Of The Stars (Part Four of Star Child)
by KarsKars
Summary: Keith has arrived safely on Earth and must attend the Galaxy Garrison if he hopes to find a pilot for the Blue Lion and protect Earth from the imminent threat of the Garla Empire. But first, he must try to pass as a Human teenager.
1. Culture Shock

**AUTHOR'S NOTE:  
**This is part 4 of a 6 part series. I can't link to the other parts but you should definitely read them before tackling this one or not much will make sense.

Part 1: From The Stars (4 Chapters)  
Part 2: To The Stars (3 Chapters)  
Part 3: Amongst The Stars (6 Chapters)

\- KarsKars

* * *

**CULTURE SHOCK**

Keith loved flying; his dream had always been to be a pilot. There was just something about the rush of pushing a pod to its limits, feeling that burst of adrenaline as his heart rate spiked and his senses came alive at the touch of the controls. He was a gifted pilot with a natural affinity and passion and he'd flown multiple types of pods, speeders, and even an entire ship once. But he had never been on anything quite like his father's craft.

For starters, he'd only ever flown in a closed cabin, and while this craft was moving at a fraction of the speed he was used to, it felt substantially faster. The open air whipping against his cheeks and flinging his hair all around him as it pulled the breath from his lungs and made the high of adrenaline even more intense. Some would say their rapidly beating heart and flipping stomach was unbearable, Keith would call it intoxicating. He had deactivated his mask once again in an effort to _feel_ the flight of their craft. But as the grains of sand bit into his skin, he reluctantly activated his mask for protection from the onslaught as his father hit the throttle, propelling them across the desert.

They arrived at what could only be described as a repurposed storage unit made entirely of wood. His father parked the craft and pulled a large beige tarp over it to protect from the constantly blowing sand. Keith adjusted the bag slung over his shoulder and followed him inside the shack. There was a single bedroom straight ahead with its door slightly to the right, and a small bathroom directly to the left of it. In the main room sat a dusty old couch under a four-panel window on his left, a wooden table sitting in front of it, and a brown leather couch in the corner. A black screen hung on the wall across from the couch, directly beside the door that led into the bathroom. On the right of the main room was a kitchen, but 'kitchen' was being generous. It was a single line style kitchen that had a refrigeration unit on the right, a sink centred under a single panel window, and a stove on the left. There was a round wooden table with four wooden chairs in the centre of the open space.

Between the two doors on the far wall was a picture, one that was clearly drawn by a very small child. It depicted a small family, where the man was drawn with pink wax, the woman was drawn with purple wax, and the child was drawn with red wax. The three figures were standing in a large brown blob that he assumed was one of the nearby caves, and in the background was a blue … whatever that is … a cat maybe?

"You drew that fer me 'bout a week or so before ya'll left." His father had moved to stand beside him, a strong hand resting on Keith shoulder.

He snorted. "It's terrible."

"It's adorable ya little shit." Keith burst out laughing, turning to face his father. "Take down that damn mask, it's off puttin'." He'd actually completely forgotten that he'd even reactivated it to begin with.

Dissolving the mask he heard a loud whistling sound come from the man standing before him. It sounded like the trajectory of a falling object. _Such a weird thing to do_. He quirked an eyebrow at his father and was met with a wide stare. "Woo Wee you ever look like yer mother. Well minus the purple skin of course." The man chuckled and Keith rolled his eyes. "Alright, first things first kiddo, we've gotta undo the damage being raised in space did. Can't have my alien son actin' like a weirdo when he gets to the Garrison."

"I'm not going to this 'Garrison'. I'm finding the Blue Lion of Voltron and returning to the Blades."

"Nope. Ol' Blue ain't goin' nowhere without her paladin. She's never let down her barrier fer no one."

"Then I'll search for this paladin." Rolling his eyes once again as he replied.

"If yer lookin' fer a pilot then you should check the local military run flight school." Keith nodded in agreement and his father whooped. "So, looks like yer headin' to the Garrison. Guess I was right all along." The devilish smirk on his face was all too familiar.

Keith rolled his eyes. "Yup, yer mother used to do that a lot. Alright, let's get started. We need to cut yer hair." He shrieked! His hair hadn't been cut since he passed his trials and the braid he wore was his pride and joy. Backing away with his hands up, he shook his head, violently objecting to the proposition. "Come on, you can't go 'round with a long braid like that, people are bound to think yer strange. Also, I don't remember your eyes being yellow, when did that happen?"

"I can change them -" he focused his energy on imagining white sclera with round irises and opened them again to another whistle. "- see."

"Right, well, that takes care of one problem. Still need to cut yer hair though."

With a series of groans and no small amount of protesting, Keith found himself staring at his new hair in the bathroom mirror. His father had trimmed the front slightly, just enough to allow him to see, as it was no longer pulled into a braid. A good chunk was taken off the back; luckily it was still long enough that he could braid it if he wanted to. "That looks way better! Alright, now to do something 'bout them claws of yers."

"What's wrong with my claws?" Sure they were smaller than average, but that was because he was a halfling, and they may be small but they were sharp as hell. Fayz had picked on him for his small claws after she joined the Blades, so it was a bit of a touchy subject.

"I'm sure nothin's wrong with 'em but Humans don't have claws kiddo. Here's a file, try to get them to look like mine."

"Dull and short?" he deadpanned, absolutely baffled. "But those are useless. How can you use them for defense if they aren't sharp enough to cause any damage?"

"Oh boy." His father mumbled under his breath. "Just do as I say and file yer damn nails." Keith groaned but did as he was told, filing his claws down to short rounded stubs against the bed of his finger. He grumbled the entire time, making it perfectly clear that this was against his wishes.

In the kitchen his father was making dinner even though it was well into the planet's night cycle. It that smelled vaguely of starch and something he couldn't place. Plopping himself down on the dusty couch Keith pulled out his communicator and sent a quick encrypted message to Kolivan.

Successfully arrived on Terra. Met with father at rendezvous point. Lander pod hidden from locals. Mission to begin at start of planet's day cycle in approximately 8 vargas.

Well done Blade.

He closed the device and a bowl of glowing yellow noodles was placed in front of him along side a red metal can. Quirking a brow he gave his father a quizzical look.

"Oh fer heaven's sake. It's Mac'n Cheese and a coke. Just eat it." He rolled his eyes again but took a spoonful of the radioactive noodles into his mouth. _Holy Quiznak!_ Is this was he'd been missing by being raised away from Earth? Keith shoveled spoonful after spoonful into his mouth, barely pausing to chew, and nearly choked. His father passed him the red can and he took a large gulp, spraying it across the table instantly when the bubbles took him by surprise.

"WHAT THE QUIZNAK?" he gasped. "Why does that burn?" His father laughed, coughing slightly when a noodle went 'down the wrong pipe' as he put it.

"It's soda. It's carbonated. Just try it again now that you know what to expect." He did. He took another sip (substantially smaller this time), and found that it wasn't as repulsive the second time around, still not good though. He crinkled his nose at the can and placed it down on the coffee table. Sighing, his father got up to pour him a glass of cold water instead.

As the night progressed they worked on making Keith seem 'normal' to other Humans. He had to learn the names of places and common objects, retrain his vocabulary, and adjust his mannerisms. It was all very taxing. By the time the sun rose and their day cycle began he'd been instructed to wash up and get ready to head into town.

He stepped into the small shower, letting the water cascade over his body. After a quick tutorial on how to use the dials and which products to use as well the order in which to use them, he determined it to be pretty straightforward. When finished, he dried off and changed into the clothing his father had given him. Naturally they were far too big for his slight frame and he walked out of the bathroom feeling rather foolish, though wonderfully refreshed.

* * *

Keith sat on the back of his father's hover bike and mentally prepared himself to interact with Humans for the first time in his entire life. Apparently he'd met other Humans a few times when he was a baby but that didn't count because he couldn't remember any of it. So as far as he was concerned, since his mother never met anyone other than his dad, this was Humanities first contact. The thought made him chuckle into the shoulder of his dad's leather jacket. He had to remind himself to say 'dad' instead of 'father' because the latter was considered weird to use in casual conversations.

So far Keith thought it was the Humans that were weird.

They had a few errands to run. First stop was supposed to be breakfast followed by clothes shopping so he had things that fit, and lastly they needed to pick up hygiene products for him to use at the Garrison. On their way home they were stopping at a friend's house to 'edit' Keith's admission forms. His medical records and school transcripts all needed to be faked and his dad trusted this 'Sam' person to keep the secret that Keith wasn't entirely Human.

Breakfast was at a small diner that served things he'd never heard of so he let his dad order for him. What arrived was a plate overflowing with food. His dad described everything to him before he tried it and he learned that eggs were ok, home fries were amazing, bacon was the _best_ thing ever, toast and jam was meh, but pancakes – oh ho pancakes were on a whole other level. They came with this thick golden sauce that he'd been instructed to pour over them and it was pure bliss. Keith hadn't eaten anything so good in his entire life, believe it or not, this topped berry puree.

The breakfast also came with a mug of hot black bean juice he learned was called 'coffee'. It was bitter and he loved it, drinking the piping hot liquid so fast he burnt the back of his throat. His father had rolled his eyes at him but didn't say anything. Next he tried the thick orange juice that also came with it. To no one's surprise it was called 'orange juice' and Keith rolled his eyes at the unoriginal name. It turned out to be sour, but in a good way, and Keith added it to his growing list of things he liked about Earth, while grits and their strange texture went beside soda on the list of things he didn't.

Clothing shopping was awful. He had to try on about a billion different things while a girl that looked to be around his age kept throwing more and more items into the change room. He'd groaned at the ever-increasing pile of items he hated. She kept passing him tight jeans and he found them far too restricting. He didn't mind the tightness; it was the lack of 'give' and flexibility in the fabric that bothered him. Keith gravitated to the leggings, which were much more familiar, as they were the norm for Galra clothing.

The girl scurried around and it didn't matter how much he scowled at her, she just kept blushing. He'd roll his eyes and she'd tell him he looked good in those jeans, or 'wow that fits you well', or at one point 'mmm ya that looks good'. The last one had been accompanied by a far off glaze to her eyes and a slack jaw, before she jerked back to attention and sputtered something about flannel – whatever that was. He'd have found the whole thing amusing if he weren't so quiznaking tired. Girl was 'barking up the wrong tree' as the Earthlings put it.

They left the store with 2 pairs of jeans, 4 pairs of black leggings, a variety of T-shirts, a few sweaters, and a black and red flannel shirt that he loved dearly. His favourite item was the red leather jacket they found. It was short which allowed him to wear a utility belt around his waist to store his knife (and maybe a snack), plus it matched his dad's hover bike. He loved it, insisting on wearing it out of the store. After hours of touching various fabrics, the palms of his hands were starting to get sore. He wasn't used to all the chemicals used on Earth and his skin was reacting badly to it. His dad bought a pair of finger-less black gloves and slipped them on his hands to help reduce contact with unfamiliar products. The gloves wouldn't do much to help right away, but his dad assured him that once they were washed and he adjusted to the laundry detergent, they would prevent the irritation from coming back.

After clothing shopping they made a pit stop at a place called Walmart where he bought a bunch of hypoallergenic toiletries, a hairbrush, a toothbrush, and a towel to take to the Garrison with him. They also bought a bunch of undergarments and socks at this Walmart place. When lunch rolled around they stopped at the restaurant inside the large store, it was owned by a Mr. McDonald according to the name. He was a strange looking man with bright red hair, pale white skin, and a rather large nose. His yellow jumpsuit was a bold fashion choice but Keith wasn't about to judge considering he was an actual alien and didn't understand Earth styles at all. The statue of Mr. McDonald sat on a bench in the isle outside his restaurant and some Human kits were crawling all over it.

Once again he didn't know what any of the food items were so his father ordered for the both of them. Finding a seat he waited for his dad to join him with the tray holding their lunch. Keith had officially been awake for almost 36 vargas hours and was exhausted. He yawned at the table as his dad sat down.

"Woah, quite the set of teeth you've got there. Don't be showin' those bad boys off." Keith groaned and stared into the empty cup. "You gotta fill it yerself" he said and pointed in the direction of a large dispensing unit of some sort. "The button on the far left is iced tea. That's the only one that ain't carbonated. Fill mine with coke will ya?" Nodding Keith rose from the table with their two cups and made his way to the unit.

Staring at it blankly he tried to figure out how it worked. There were some buttons, and some levers, but when he put the cup under the red picture nothing happened. A woman walked up and gave him an odd look. He smiled at her but continued to stare frustratedly at the machine. She tapped her foot behind him, clearly growing impatient while she waited to fill her own cups. After a dobash minute, she reached over and lifted his cup to press it against the lever rather aggressively until a dark brown bubbly liquid came shooting out. He mumbled a "thank you" that he realized far too late was in Galran instead of English, and she walked away grumbling about annoying foreigners. He stuck his tongue out at her back because he was 16 and allowed to have a moment of weakness. In fact, he could think of a few other Galran words to throw at her right about now.

Instead, he made his way back to their table and received a swift smack the side of the head. "Don't think I didn't see ya'll stickin' yer tongue out at that nice lady."

"She called me an annoying foreigner."

"Well – ya that was rude. But in her defense you are kinda an alien." Keith rolled his eyes for what felt like the thousandth time since arriving on Earth.

* * *

Sam was nice. He offered to pick them up from Mr. McDonald's restaurant in the Walmart store and drive them back to the cabin. His dad took the hover bike but Keith, and their shopping bags, went with Sam in the jeep. They sat in slightly awkward silence for the majority of the drive. Sam tried to talk to him but Keith wasn't raised on Earth and therefore had no idea who these Dallas Cowboys were and why their ability to catch and oddly shaped ball was so important. He also got the feeling that Sam didn't care much for it either based on how quickly the subject was dropped.

Without the need to stick to roads, and therefore speed limits, the hover-bike easily beat them back to the cabin. They pulled up beside the already tarped craft, and Keith jumped at the sudden tap on his window.

"Kiddo, why don't you take them shoppin' bags inside and grab ol' Sammy here a glass of water." He gave a sharp grunt paired with a curt nod to show his agreement before climbing out of the jeep. Out of the corner of his eye he caught the strange look Mr. Sam was giving him and shrugged it off.

The bags were heavier than he'd expected but he managed to take them all in one trip, plopping the purchases down on the only bed. _Huh._ He thought to himself. Where was he supposed to sleep? Perhaps the couch? Or maybe they were going to share? He shrugged again, it didn't really matter after all; he'd slept in far worse conditions.

On the front porch the two men were talking in hushed tones. He filled two jars that were used as glasses with cold tap water and walked out to deliver them, causing both adults to yelp and jerk in surprise.

"KEITH! God! Announce yer presence son." His dad took the jar and mumbled under his breath about space ninjas. He didn't know what a 'ninja' was but Keith was going to take it as a compliment.

"So, uh, you're from – uh space? Is that right?" Mr. Sam had a nervous look on his face and he nervously adjusted his glasses. Smirking, Keith decided to mess with him. Realizing he hadn't spoken at all in this man's presence, he turned to address him using his native Galran.

"_Yup, that's right. Crash landed last night."_ He grinned, flashing a toothy smile and watched Mr. Sam's eyes blow wide and his jaw drop. The growly and guttural sounds of the Galran language were not something Human vocal cords could replicate, and Keith knew the language would sound as alien to the man as English did to him.

Without missing a beat, he ducked in time for the impending swat to connect with nothing but air. "Hey – hey, ya'll get back here!" He chuckled and darted from the porch just in time to avoid being tackled by large arms.

"Oh ya, he's your kid alright." Mr. Sam snorted from his rocking chair.

"Keith, stop being a lil' shit and get back here!" The voice faded with distance and he laughed. The feeling of fresh air and a warm breeze around him made running across the sand enjoyable. The sun was unbearably bright and it made his eyes burn, but it was worth it to feel the warmth on his skin.

Having lived his whole life on a space station, he rarely found himself planet side, and when he did it was always for a mission. This feeling, the freedom of running against the wind, the constant pressure of natural gravity, and the warm sun on his back, was enough to make him want to stay. In that moment he wanted nothing more than to stay on Earth, far away from the rage of war, and just enjoy the simplicity of this life. He could get to know his dad, learn more about his alien heritage, and enjoy his last few years being a kit in peace. Keith knew that was selfish, and he finally understood why his mother had been so hesitant to leave. In the end what he wanted didn't matter, not when the Empire would continue to destroy worlds. This place wasn't safe either. Sure it had been untouched for now, but this virgin rock was going to be sullied by the Empire eventually. It was inevitable.

Begrudgingly he made his way back, watching as the sun dipped lower in the sky; Earth's day cycle coming closer to its end. The smell of something sweet but smoky drifted over the rocks. When the cabin came back into view he noticed another vehicle parked out front. His curiosity got the better of him and he dropped into 'recon' mode. Staying low and making precise, deliberate movements he advanced on the cabin coming up behind the new vehicle. Peering in the windows he saw several books with strange writing on them that he recognized as English, and one that was covered in pictures of planets.

His mother had bought him some earth study books when he was a kitling. He had used them to teach himself to read and write in his father's language but he was terrible at it. This could be a problem if he was supposed to attend an Earth based learning academy. _Quiznak._

Walking around the side of the vehicle he heard a sharp shriek and turned to see a young man with light brown hair. He was slightly taller than Keith and perhaps 2 or 3 years older. He paused, mentally patting himself on the back for thinking 'years' right away. But he must have zone out while lost in thought because the next thing he knew, a hand had jetted out in front of him.

"I'm Matt, you must be Keith. My dad wasn't kidding; you do kinda appear out of nowhere!" Keith rolled his eyes but clasped the young man's forearm anyways. The look of pure shock on the kid's face made him briefly question his entire existence. "Ok that was weird." The other boy shrugged, brushing off the incident and moved on. "So, you just moved back? That's cool. How's your English?"

"My English is adequate."

"No kidding! You barely have an accent! So what's Denmark like?" Keith stared blankly at him. Denmark? What's a Denmark?

"Good?" He answered with a tentative and questioning tone.

"Hey kiddo, why don't you give yer ol' man a hand in the kitchen real quick, let our guests relax a bit." Letting out a breath of relief he followed his dad into the cabin.

"What's a 'Denmark'?"

"A country in Europe. Their language was as close to Galran as I could think of without using German or Russian, cause I know both of those are spoken by some senior Officers at the Garrison."

"Is that where I'm pretending I'm from?"

"More or less. Just keep as close to the truth as possible. Obviously leave out any mentions of yer mamma bein' purple and you havin' been raised in Outer Space. Got it?" Keith nodded. "Oh, ya'll should probably do some readin' up on Denmark. Get yerself familiar with it in case anyone else asks."

"Cant I just stare at them until they become uncomfortable and walk away?" He wasn't really asking, that was 100% what his plan was.

"At least _try_ to be social will ya!" Keith rolled his eyes. "And stop rolling them eyes of yers. It's rude."

* * *

Dinner went off without too much trouble. They had steaks from an animal called a 'cow' that were lathered in a rich brown BBQ sauce which Keith decided was even better than the pancake sauce. He put this BBQ sauce on his entire plate, smothering the 'corn-on-the-cob' and baked potato, as well as the cold green stuff he thought was gross. He mentally added this 'coleslaw' to the list with soda and grits. Mr. Sam, who he now knew was actually Mr. Holt, and Matt had both looked on in horror as he emptied the entire bottle of sauce, even going so far as to dip his cornbread in it. Keith didn't care, so far Earth food was amazing and he was excited to try more.

Currently they were all sitting around a large fire, his dad had called it a 'bonfire' and they were going to drink some 'beers' and roast some 'marshmallows'. It was all very strange and Keith was overwhelmed with culture shock, so he just nodded along and did as he was told, keeping his observations to himself.

Turned out this 'beer' is an alcoholic beverage. He'd never had any alcohol before; the Blade's were pretty strict about letting kits drink. Nunvil was the only alcohol on he had access to and, given how potent the stuff can be, he'd never really had any desire to try it. So naturally he got wasted off 2 bottles. Trying to stand, he felt the ground moving under his feet and almost lost his balance. He let out a string of Galran curses and plopped down in the sand, empty bottle in hand.

"Ok, yer cut off." Keith nodded in agreement and lay backwards, letting his head nuzzle into the sun baked sand of the Texas desert.

Mr. Sam - er Mr. Holt, chuckled and agreed saying, "Matt and I should probably head home before this bonfire turns into a slumber party." Matt groaned but Keith was already on the verge of sleep. "Kolt, do you mind if we leave Matt's jeep here? I'll take him out to pick it up in the morning. I Don't want him driving anymore tonight."

"Yea yea, don't even worry 'bout it." They waved and Keith raised an arm in the air but dropped it immediately, sending a small wave of sand crashing over his stomach. He thought he heard Matt chuckle but it was hard to tell through he haze of near-sleep.

He woke briefly when his father laid him down on the bed, but immediately succumbed to his exhaustion. Out cold before the door of the small room closed on the whispered words.

"G'Night, kiddo."


	2. Orientation Part 1

**ORIENTATION PART 1**

Watching the video of the young woman speaking about what was supposed to be 'his country' in 'his language' made him realize that maybe his dad was deaf because this Danish sounded nothing like Galran. Sure it had similar sounds made in the back of the throat and his accent sounded similar to theirs, but otherwise it was totally different. He groaned and leaned back on the couch, rubbing his temples in concentric circles.

Keith had spent the past 4 days working on his reading and writing skills, learning about Denmark, and trying to grapple with basic Earth history and politics. It was a nightmare. OH and the best part? Ms. Proxa had sent him a message saying his studies with her hadn't concluded just because he was on a long-term mission. So on top of all of this Earth stuff he _still_ had to write that report on the Great Famine of the Dreskil Era. He groaned again, slightly louder this time.

"You ready then?" His dad called from the kitchen.

"Ya, I think I've got this."

"Capital city of Denmark."

"What?" He asked confused, why did his dad need to know that?

"Keith, you need to get yer backstory down pat. So – what's the capital of Denmark?"

He groaned. "Ugh, it's Copenhagen."

"What town are you from?"

"Why can't I just be from Copenhagen?"

"Cause it's likely people could've visited it and a tourist shouldn't know more 'bout a city than someone who's supposed to've grownup there. Now come on, what town?"

"Ugh, Sønderborg."

"Population?"

"I don't quiznaking know – look it up!"

"Dammit Keith, don't use alien swears and start takin' this seriously!"

He groaned again. "Ugh, _fine!_ I don't **fucking** know off hand – google it!" He glowered at his father who was fuming. "I don't need to learn this shit. I'll just respond with 'google it' and leave it at that!" He threw his arms in the air out of exasperation. Humans weren't _really_ going to talk to him this much were they? Cause that would be annoying!

"The Dane's are nice people – you can't act like that."

"I'll be an anomaly. Besides, I've done my research and I don't look anything like them."

"Human's migrate all over the planet kiddo. Our family's originally Japanese, but we're livin' in Texas now."

"Then why can't I just say I'm from Japanese?"

"Japan. And because Japanese sounds nothin' like Galran."

"Neither does Danish."

"It's closer. And stop arguin' with me! There're lots of Officers at the Garrison who speak Japanese. The Garrison even has a sister location in Yokohama so they exchange students a lot."

Keith rolled his eyes but his father's justifications made sense. He may look Japanese but if he tried to pass for it, his whole cover could be blown in a matter of quintants.

… _DAYS!_ He mentally corrected himself and groaned again as he slumped further down in the couch. 4 days, he had been studying for 4 days and it was finally taking its toll on his mental standing.

"Take a nap. You look tired." A large hand slapped down on his knee and he jolted with surprise causing the man to chuckle. "We're leavin' in roughly 3 hours for yer orientation. I'll wake you up - go." Keith nodded and got up from the couch, walking over to the small bedroom and collapsing face first onto the bed. Within ticks he was out cold.

* * *

Keith stood inline at the sign-in desk. 4 students sat in uniform handing out welcome packages to all the new cadets. The lines were split by surname and line one was A-E, line two was F-J, line three was K-Q, and line four was R-Z. Keith had to pause for a moment and think of what English letter Kogane started with before filing into the third line.

He'd been waiting for almost 35 dobashes by the time a pair of dazzling blue eyes set in soft caramel skin smiled at him. Keith felt his stupid heart beating out of his chest. Never, in all his life, had he seen eyes that blue; they were breath taking. The boy they were attached to was equally breath taking. His tanned skin looked smooth and Keith felt a sudden urge to touch it – he didn't though, he may be an alien but he wasn't a creep. Blue Eyes stopped smiling abruptly and furrowed his brow, scowling at him instead.

"What's your problem? Hola, Earth to asshole!" He was waving his hand in Keith's face and the motion snapped him back to reality."

"What?" Confusion lingered in the tone of his question.

"What's your deal, man? Stop glaring at me." Keith looked at him puzzled. Was he glaring? He didn't mean to. But something about this boy made him decide, even though it was a misunderstanding, he was _not_ about to apologize. So instead he rolled his eyes, turned back around, and stepped forward with the line.

The boy grunted and sputtered some words that were not English; they _were_ beautiful though. Whatever language it was, they were soft and flowing. Almost like a caress. And that train of thought was dangerous. Keith actively changed his thoughts to the pile of homework waiting for him back at the cabin, to watching the line as it moved closer to the table, and to running through what he needed to say when it was his turn. A snicker from behind him caught his attention.

"Nice mullet. The 1980's called; they want their style back." Keith turned to face Blue Eyes with a look of confusion. He may not understand what he said but Keith knew an insult when he heard one.

"What's a mullet?" He pressed.

"That disaster you call a hairdo." The incredibly annoying boy countered and Keith felt his cheeks flare. What was wrong with his hair? His dad had cut it for him and it was a perfectly acceptable Earth style. He almost said this, but caught himself at the last moment, opening and closing his mouth as he tried to think of something else to say. In the end he snorted and crossed his arms as he turned around, choosing to ignore the pain-in-the-ass instead.

As he neared the front of the line, he noticed that one of the students at the table (running line A-E) was Matt Holt. The teen was too busy with his duties to notice Keith standing there but it felt good to at least recognize one person. The student in charge of his line was a young female with short brown hair, glasses, and blue eyes that were similar to the annoying pair behind him but not quite as rich. Her face shape was similar to Annoying's as well and she smiled at him as he approached.

"Welcome to the Galaxy Garrison! Name or Student ID please!" Her voice was cheery and bright, she kinda reminded him of a Human version of Marra. He instantly liked her.

"Kogane comma Keith." He heard the sudden snort and a snicker from behind him. It was followed by a mockingly high-pitched '_Woods comma Elle'_ and an accompanying snicker from the next line over. His face burned as the blush took over and he slumped his shoulders.

"Here's your packet." The nice girl smiled at him and he detected a hint of mischief in those pale blue eyes before she suddenly burst from her seat. "OH LANCY LANCE! I get my own baby brother in my line!" She lunged over the table towards the boy behind him and squeezed Annoying into a tight hug, planting a loud smacking kiss to his cheek. He squawked and tried desperately to get away but she had a death grip around his waist. Keith chuckled as he listened to Annoying – Lancy Lance, whine and struggle against his sister, desperation clear in his pleas of 'Coño! Ronnie get _off_ me!'.

Keith was still snickering as he reached where his father was waiting for him. A small group of 3 adults had gathered around him. He noticed that they wore grey jackets instead of the orange and white ones given to the students; they also had more gold bars on the shoulder pads. Being raised in a military organization himself, it was easy to put two-and-two together determining the uniforms must differentiate cadets from officers, while the bars declared their ranks.

"Keith! Come here kiddo." His dad excitedly waved him over and he felt himself wither under the immediate attention of the 3 adults. One was Sam Holt; he'd smiled and greeted Keith right away. The others were Commander Iverson and Officer Shirogane. He smiled because that was the polite thing to do but honestly, he hated the attention. Until, that is, Officer Shirogane turned to greet him and Keith thought he maybe died. That was twice now that he had felt his heart leap out of his chest in less than a varga. Was it seriously _this_ common for Humans to be so attractive?

The outstretched hand started to warble slightly and Keith reached to grasp the Officer's forearm. In his periphery he caught his dad's full eye roll, Mr. Holt's smirk, and the Officer's surprise.

"Tsuyoi gurippu" Officer Shirogane spoke and his father blushed but Keith gave him a strange look, not understanding the gibberish he had spoken. Surprisingly, his dad held a brief exchange with the Officer in the same gibberish-y language but Keith still had absolutely no idea what they were saying so he tuned it out. It was interesting sounding though and if his dad spoke it, maybe he should try learning it?

"Keith, Officer Shirogane is from Japan." The subtle flare of his father's eyes told him what was really being said. Read: 'This is why you couldn't pass for Japanese without being caught.' And Keith had to restrain himself from rolling his eyes at the silent scolding. Instead he smiled at the beautiful Officer.

"Cadet Kogane, it's a pleasure to meet you Officer Shirogane" The older smiled warmly back and Keith thought this must be more smiles than he's ever seen in his entire life. Were Humans really this affectionate or was it simply a courtesy?

"Please, call me Shiro." Office Shirogane Shiro gave him a slight bow, which Keith returned in kind, and the man positively beamed at him. Keith blushed.

"Shiro here's the one who went n'beat all my ol'Garrison records!" To his credit the Officer looked bashful at the sudden praise.

"He's the best damn pilot I've ever seen. Best in his **generation**, that's for sure." The gruff Commander Iverson contributed.

"For now, ain't that right Keith?" a slap to his back sent his falling forward. Stepping his foot out he managed to steady himself and gave a sheepish glance up at Officer Shiro who had moved his hands to catch him. Grumbling under his breath he glared at his father and righted his stance, brushing the wrinkles out of his favourite black and red flannel shirt.

A group of new cadets came running up and excitedly shook Officer Shiro's hand, gushing about how amazing he was and how inspiring he was and how talented he was and blah blah blah it was making Keith sick. He crossed his arms, shifting his weight onto one leg, and rolled his eyes dramatically. Humans were ridiculous.

* * *

Their parents were allowed to join them for orientation. He had to wear a stupid nametag on his shirt that read 'K. Kogane' which sucked but it balanced out because his dad's was identical it made people do a double take. They had grinned at each other as they wrote them.

Keith sat in the large lecture hall, overwhelmed by the sheer volume of students present. He had only ever been in private tutoring sessions that had one or two other kits in them. His biggest class lasted 2 phoebs and contained himself, Regris, Marra, and Zavin until the latter finished all of his testing and was deemed fully educated.

Everything about this was a complete 180 from what he was used to with the Blades. Where his people were stoic and reserved, Humans seemed to be boisterous and emotional. His class sizes had been small and intimate; these lecture halls were massive and packed full. It made Keith feel like just a number in the system, a cog in the machine that made up the Galaxy Garrison. He'd never felt like this before and it was mildly unnerving. Almost reminiscent of how the Empire was run.

His father had taught him how to solute like an American, how to address his superior officers, and how to avoid drawing attention to himself. So far he was doing well enough but he was still nervous to come here every day.

"The grounds tour will commence at zero nine hundred hours. All wishing to attend are to meet in the main foyer a minimum of 15 minutes prior. You will find your uniform order sheet, class schedule, and room assignment in the 'welcome packet'. Dismissed." The very stern woman standing at the front of the room spoke with authority, her grey jacket adorned with metals marking her as the highest ranked official in the room.

"Room assignments?" he asked, leaning in to whisper at his father's side.

"Ya, Garrison's a boardin' school. Yer gunna be livin' here."

"So – wait, I don't get to stay with you?" The thought made his sad, he had hoped for more time to spend getting to know the man his father was.

"Nah, but you can come stay at the cabin on weekends if yer wantin' to." He had a hesitant look, like he'd put the offer out there not yet sure if Keith would accept.

"I want to."

* * *

He didn't have a roommate. Mr. Holt had pulled some strings and gotten Keith his own room, much to his relief. His dad helped him unpack his bag of clothes, toiletries, and school supplies but he'd opted to leave his Galran data pad and communicator back at the cabin. It could stay in his dorm room when he moved in later this week.

Across the hall and down 2 doors was Lancy Lance, and one of the annoying fans of Officer Shiro was in the room right next to Keith. His name was James and _stars_ was he annoying. They hadn't even had a full conversation and Keith could already tell he hated the guy. He had nice hair though.

Keith watched as the perfectly styled, not a strand out of place, head of glossy brown hair marched down the hall towards him. "How did YOU get a private room? My father made a generous donation to the Garrison and I _still_ ended up with a roommate." Keith shrugged, not really knowing what to say to that.

"Howdy." His dad's voice came from over his shoulder and the boy's eyes drifted to their nametags.

"Kogane? As in former Officer Kolton Kogane?" His eyes were bugging out of his head. "WOW, it's an honour to meet you sir. You held the highest scores the Garrison has ever had for nearly 20 years!"

"Sure did – till that Shirogane kid went and beat 'em." There was no hostility to his words, merely a sarcastic jest. "But that's ok, cause my boy here's gunna put the Kogane name back on top – aren't yea Keith?" He rolled his eyes and resisted the urge to dissolve and slither away where he couldn't be stared at. Honestly, why did his dad insist on doing this to him?

"Well best of luck, competition around here is fierce. How well do you handle pressure?" It was said in a friendly way, his tone conveying nothing but civility. Yet Keith could _feel_ the jealousy emanating from him; a drive to not only prove himself, but try to bury Keith in the process. _Great, just what I needed_. He thought to himself.

Keith didn't bother responding; he merely lowered his eyes into a menacing glare and held eye contact. Conversation over. Finished. Walk-away now Human boy. He stood and stared for a good few ticks before the other became uncomfortable and left, muttering about how Keith was 'a fucking weirdo'.

"Off to a great start makin' friends." Keith rolled his eyes _again_ at his father's sarcasm.

"I don't need friends, I already have those back home. What I need is the Blue Paladin. And for the Humans to leave me alone."

"Keith!" His dad practically seethed, pulling him back in the room by his collar. "Watch what yer sayin'. Best case scenario they think yer strange, worst case – the Garrison puts everything together and yer findin' yerself in some lab that I gotta bust you outta." He laughed but there was a dark seriousness hidden below the surface.

Keith nodded. "Sorry dad."

"Atta boy." Standing straighter he continued. "Right, let's get goin' to the grounds tour. Then lunch!"

* * *

The tour took forever. They had Lancy Lance's sister as their guide and she mocked her brother relentlessly. It was awesome. Keith had hung back, keeping to the rear of the group, not wanting to be called on or draw any attention to himself what so ever. His strategy had paid off and he hadn't been forced to answer any questions … until Matt joined them. He had made a comment about Keith being from Denmark and one of the girls in their group jumped at the opportunity to babbly on about her family vacation to Norway, Denmark, Finland, and Sweden. He didn't know anything about those places so he just stared at her blankly, expressionless, void of all emotion and comprehension until she stopped talking and awkwardly shuffled away to whisper with her friends. Every so often she'd shoot him an odd look but he'd roll his eyes and carry on unfazed.

Matt seemed fun, he split the group and saved Lancy Lance from his sister by taking him, Keith, family vacation girl, some big guy with a headband that was friends with Lancy Lance, and a couple of other students. But most importantly, he assigned James to go with Nice Girl.

It was about half way through the tour that he learned Nice Girl was actually named Veronica and that Lancy Lance's name was just Lance. It had been incredibly embarrassing when Keith had called him Lancy Lance and everyone stared at him. It wasn't his fault he thought it was the boy's name! He had voiced this thought but it didn't stop the laughter. At least it had made Lance slightly nicer to him.

When they finally made it back to the foyer, Keith found his dad leaning against a wall talking to Officer Shiro and a tanned man with Glasses who were standing awfully close together. A closer look showed the two Officers were holding hands and Keith felt a small smile come over his face. They looked good together, and sure he was maybe a little jealous, but his teenage hormones would calm themselves down eventually. Just like his crushes on Sergin and Plak, they were fun to tease but it would never go anywhere.

Suddenly from his peripheral he caught a hand reaching for his shoulder and Keith ducked, grabbing the wrist of his would-be-attacker and twisting until he had enough of a hold to thrown them up and over his shoulder, slamming their body hard onto the ground. Twisting the now-victim's arm behind their back, he dug his knee between their shoulder blades and hissed.

"OW! FUCK! GET OFF! OMG!" His would-be-attacker was Lance. Lance the absolute dipshit who sneaked up on a trained member of the Blade of Marmora. _Quiznak! _He quickly jumped off, letting the slightly taller boy stand. "HOLY SHIT DUDE! Like, what the FUCK!"

"What the fuck _me_? What the fuck_ you_! You attacked first!"

"I didn't attack you psycho! I was coming to see if you wanted to join Hunk and I in the cafeteria since we've been assigned to the same flight training squad." Oh – oh shit he might have messed this up. "But NO**P**E – not dealing with spazzy psycho killers! Nuh uh! Not today!" Keith groaned and the big guy (Hunk?) gave him a sheepish look before chasing after his friend.

"What was that?" He whipped his head around to see two girls from his orientation standing just behind him, having walked over during the commotion. The one who had spoken was of seemingly average height with dark hair pulled up into a ponytail. Her skin was similar in colour to Lance and she wore glasses making her appear to look similar to Veronica. In fact, if it weren't for her voice, Keith would have confused her for the older Cadet. He was starting to realize that he had a hard time telling Humans apart. They all looked so similar, thank the ancients for skin tone variation or he'd be screwed!

"It appears to have been a standard grapple takedown. A technique used in various martial arts to put oneself in a position of relative control over their opponent." Keith blinked at the slight blonde girl; he'd been completely unaware that she was a droid. It was an impressive AI; she looked so life-like. He knew the Empire had highly advanced sentries but they never looked true-to-life, their minimalist design was purely based around efficient function. Clearly, who ever crafted this machine had a true passion for robotics.

"Thanks for that Cadet C-3PO!" The Human girl responded while rolling her eyes. "What I _meant_ was – how did you do that? You moved so quickly, I barely even saw you take him down! One minute he was walking up to you and the next – _bam!_ Your knee was in his back!"

He didn't know what to say. Definitely not the truth – but what cover did he use? "I went to a military academy back home." That would have to do, it was close enough to the truth that he could remember it if pressed. His tone had been curt, ensuring that she wouldn't continue their conversation, however she seemed unfazed by his lack of decorum and continued undeterred.

"Wow cool, me too! I went to one of the Garrison prep schools with Ina here, back home in New York. We have a Galaxy Garrison campus too, but _everyone_ knows the Texas campus is the best for flight programs." She paused and stared at him, obviously waiting for him to do or say something but he had no idea what. So he just stared back. Eventually she spoke. "What school did you go to? Where's home?" _Quiznak! _He should have just walked away.

"Denmark."

"WOW COOL! I've never been, is it nice this time of year?

"Stunning."

"Sweet! Maybe I'll go one day! What made you decide to transfer to the Garrison? Why the Texas campus? Isn't there a few locations in Europe you could have gone to? Your English is amazing by-the-way! Did you have to learn it in school? I would have thought you were Japanese or something."

"Nadia. It is impolite to assume and individual's nationality based solely on their perceived race." The Human girl – Nadia, grunted and blushed offering a sheepish look and potentially waiting for him to say something. He didn't know what. So he continued to stare.

"Yeah yeah, sorry! Don't mind Ina, she's a robot!"

"I assumed as much." Nadia burst out laughing and he gave her a puzzled look. The robot – Ina, blinked at him with a small scowl on her face. To program such a complex emotional expression into a droid was true dedication. Once again he gave a silent commendation to her programmer.

"OMG you're hilarious. I love it! You said that totally deadpan." She gasped for breath, buckling over as she continued to laugh. "We're going to cafeteria to grab some lunch, wanna come?" He looked over at his dad, still chatting merrily with the two Officers, and shrugged.

"Let me tell my dad."

"Ok! We'll wait here." She smiled at him and it twinkled in her green eyes. She was cute, if Regris ever came to Earth he'd introduce them.

Walking over, he watched the smile take shape on his dad's face, as he grew closer. "Hey Kiddo, who's yer friend?" Keith looked at him confused for a moment; he didn't have any Earth friends. After a tick the realization settled in, 'friend' was a much looser term in English than it was in Galran.

"Nadia. We're going to the cafeteria for lunch. Is that ok?"

"Yer gunna ditch yer ol'man for a pretty girl?"

"Yes?" Why did it matter if she was pretty? He'd been on Earth for a whole movement now and still hadn't adjusted fully the Human's strange behavioural patterns. But his dad just laughed at the question in his tone.

"Yeah, alright have fun. But remember your class test in the simulator is at thirteen hundred hours. Don't be late kay?" He nodded and rushed back to Nadia and her robot, excited to try more Earth food.


	3. Orientation Part 2

**ORIENTATION PART 2**

The Cafeteria was MASSIVE. It was comprised of 3 rooms, one huge room and two smaller rooms, all connected by 'scanner access' doors. One of the rooms was accessed through a locked scanner door in the larger main room. Only Officers, Commanders, etc. could enter and it had nicer seating with some better dessert options from the looks of it. Perks of a higher rank.

The other small room was on the left and was meant for visitors. It offered smaller tables; similar to the way the diner and Mr. McDonald's restaurant had been setup, and could only be accessed through the hallway. Non-Garrison personnel were not permitted to enter the main room and therefore had their own, smaller buffet setup.

The large main room was the general cafeteria area and boasted a large buffet along the back wall and rows of long tables with benches for seating. It reminded him of the dining halls back on base. _Stars, he hoped there was meat here!_

Ina took a seat at one of the tables, her back straight as an arrow; clearly her programming didn't include 'how to sit like a Human'. Keith smiled at her, when he got back to the cabin tonight he was going to message Regris and tell him all about how advanced Earth's robotics departments were. The Humans may not be space faring yet, but they sure know how to make incredible droids.

He stood behind Nadia at the buffet line. Nothing looked familiar; nothing! He started to panic a little, not wanting to grab anything he wouldn't like, but also not wanting to look even weirder by grabbing nothing. He decided to just follow Nadia's lead and grabbed what she did. They filled their plates with various fruits and veggies, Keith being sure to grab anything that was a meat product, and headed over to join Ina.

"OH DAMMIT! We forgot to grab drinks!" Nadia scowled at her tray and Keith looked around the room, he hadn't seen any drinks anywhere. Suddenly a large dispenser unit, exactly the same as the one in Mr. McDonald's restaurant, came into view. It was sitting on a metal counter top off to the side in a far corner of the room.

"I can get them." He offered and she blushed, looking up to smile broadly at him.

"My hero!" he rolled his eyes and walked over to the drink station, filling his glass with iced tea and hers with … _oh stars!_ He forgot to ask what she wanted. Reading the labels was useless, the words made no sense at all. What the quiznak was a 'Fruitopia'? Or for that matter, what was a 'Dr. Pepper' and why did it have a medical degree if it was a beverage? Was it medicinal? _Oh Duh! _Its inventor must have been a doctor and therefore it was named after him and given his title! He felt so stupid, he almost face palmed. In the end he had filled both glasses with iced tea.

Setting her drink down in front of her, he took his seat and began to eat. The 'watermelon' was ok, a little bland but otherwise decent. The 'strawberry' was amazing though and he filed it on the list with coffee, BBQ sauce, pancake sauce, and Mac'n Cheese. That list was growing substantially, he decided to solely keep track of the things he _didn't_ like instead of both.

"So, you never answered my question? Why the Texas campus?" He blinked at her having actually forgotten all about that.

"Dad lives here."

"Oh ok, yeah that makes sense. Why is your dad in Texas if you're from Denmark?" Keith glanced up from his 'Sand-Witch' and gave her a puzzled look.

"Because he lives here?" he deadpanned the blatantly obvious answer.

"Right, I get that. But _WHY_ does your dad live in Texas but not you?"

He groaned. She wasn't going to drop this anytime soon. Putting his Sand-Witch down on the tray he met her eyes and, with the goal of making her as uncomfortable as possible, he proceeded to tell a heavily simplified version of his early life. "I was born here. Mom left when I was 3 and took me with her. Now I'm back to get to know my father and attend the Garrison."

"This is why you should not ask overly personal questions upon first meeting someone Nadia." He snickered and smiled at Ina. She was a good bot; he liked her.

"OH MY GOD, I'm so sorry! I didn't mean to pry."

"Yes you did or you wouldn't have pressed. But it's fine." Her eyes flew wide and she blushed a wicked shade of crimson, making him feel a pang of guilt for calling her out. His dad was right; he was terrible at making friends.

They ate in relative silence after that and he knew he messed up, if he didn't fix this he would lose his best chance at an actual friend. "Sorry. My dad says I'm too blunt."

"No, no it's ok! I'm used to blunt, after all, I deal with Ina all the time." She smiled at the robot who grimaced and Keith snorted at the unexpected display of emotion, some iced tea coming out his nose. Nadia howled with laughter, nearly falling out of her seat as she clutched her stomach and shook violently. Ina rose, walked over to the buffet line, and returned with several napkins. He muttered a 'thanks' and proceeded to wipe up the snot / juice combo running down his chin.

The rest of their lunch went smoothly. Nadia talked _a lot_ which was fine with him because it meant he didn't have to contribute as much and he mostly just tuned her out anyway. She blathered on and on about her home in New York (Queens to be exact), her family, a place called Central Park, and a TV show he couldn't remember the name of but apparently was important because '_in one of the episodes you can totally see my house in the background'_. He had just smiled and nodded through the whole ordeal, finishing his lunch and eyeing up her iced tea with theft-y intentions. Was that a word? Did he care? Nope.

After lunch they still had half an hour to kill before he had to meet up with his dad, so Nadia led them on a winding path through the dorms. That's how he found himself sitting on her bed, legs crossed, with Nadia sitting beside him and Ina seated on the bed across from them. Everything was fine, a little odd but he chalked that up to Human vs Galra culture, until he jumped at the hand resting on his knee.

Eyes wide with shock he stared at her, and she chuckled a little bashfully. "Oh, this not ok? I thought we were really vibing back there." She blushed and quickly withdrew her hand. He noticed Ina roll her eyes.

"Nadia, always verify consent before initiating contact with another person." He chuckled at the robot scolding her.

"Uh I - I don't understand what 'vibing' is?" He decided transparency was the best way to go here, he liked Nadia and didn't want to ruin a chance of friendship. Perhaps this was just the way Human's acted with friends and he would have to adjust.

"Oh, right. Your English is so good I forgot it's not your first language. Um 'vibing' is like, when – you know, um – two people kinda like each other and uh, they make that attraction clear, and – Oh god I'm making a total ass of myself aren't I?" She slapped her hands over her face and shook her head but he could still see how bright red she had turned.

He chuckled. That was _not_ what he had thought. It actually took a solid dobash before he stopped laughing enough to calm her down. "Sorry – It's not – _stars _it's nothing against you but I'm not interested in you in that way. I mean, I like you, I think you could be my first friend here, in Texas I mean, but uh – no thanks to the 'vibing'." She looked a little hurt, like his words had hit her self-esteem and yea, they probably had.

"Oh. Ok then." A knock on the door made the both of them jump and James walked in.

"Kogane? What the hell?" Nadia looked between the two boys and Keith blushed – wait. Why the quiznak was he blushing? DAMMIT! Stupid hormones. He rolled his eyes but watched realization dawn in hers, a sly grin taking the place of her frown.

"JAMES! What's up buddy? Come to hang out?"

"Not any more. Just reminding you we have our test in the sims in about 15 minutes." He glared at Keith and Keith glared right back. Something about this guy just rubbed him the wrong way – hormones be damned, Keith did _not_ like him.

"Kay-cool-bye!" She shot the words at an insane speed and he'd blinked at her for a while, completely stunned before turning to leave. When the door closed behind James, Nadia whipped her head around and tightly pursed her lips, giving him an odd expression. "Soooooooooooooo" She pulled the word dramatically as her eyebrows danced across her forehead. He groaned. "Guess I'm not your type huh." He groaned again.

Nadia laughed and Ina tisked her, shooting the Human girl a glare. "Neither is James." Keith added for clarity and she continued to chuckle.

"Yeah he can be an ass, but he really is a nice guy. Plus you know, if you want – I can put in a good word for you." She wiggled her eyebrows again and he lowered his face into a stern glare.

"No." She made a 'yeesh' sound and threw her hands up, the conversation was over.

* * *

They'd made it back to the foyer with 5 minutes to spare. "The hell did you run off to? I went lookin' fer ya and - nothin'! Checked the caf, checked yer room; nothin'!"

"Sorry Mr. Kogane, that's my fault!" Nadia leaned in and placed a quick peck to his cheek, making him blush from embarrassment at the contact while his dad's face morphed into a grin. "See ya round Keith!" She cheered and bounced off with Ina in tow.

He glanced over and saw the look on his dad's face. Keith groaned and rolled his eyes. "No."

"She's cute."

"Dad – just, no."

"Aw come on kiddo, she's a cutie. I like her." He rolled his eyes.

"Me too – not like that."

"What's wrong with you? She's a perfectly nice girl, cute as the dickens, obviously likes you, - "

"Dad – just drop it." He said, cutting the man off. "I'm not interested. I don't care how cute she is or how sweet or whatever. Not my type."

"You're type purple?" His dad joked, nudging his shoulder playfully and Keith narrowed his eyes, turning to give his father a sly grin.

"Not like you can judge." They both snickered and Keith didn't dodge the smack to the back of his head this time.

"Smart ass."

* * *

The simulator room was a huge circle with large glass walls looking out into the surrounding hallways. The simulator itself was large and clunky; Keith rolled his eyes at Earth's tech.

"Today you are showing off your individual skills. You will be separated by class level based on your performance today. There are two classes in the Pilot divisions: Fighter and Cargo, and two classes in the Engineering divisions: Communications and Mechanical. Pilots will be sorted based on their scores in the flight simulators; Engineers will be sorted based on a profiling exam. When your Student ID is called step forward, announce your name and desired division. Best of luck Cadets." The instructor gave them all a stiff solute before stepping aside to let Commander Iverson take the lead.

"Welcome. I am Commander Iverson, head of the Piloting division. This is Commander Holt; he is head of the Engineering division. Let's begin. ID 12589 - Please step forward." A red haired girl took a nervous step and announced in a shaky voice '_Margret McConnell – Engineering'_.

The line dwindled, Engineering students moving to stand off to the side of the room with Commander Holt; their Exams would take place later in the afternoon. The simulator had been running non-stop, a Cadet suiting up while another was inside running the sim. Keith could feel his hand's sweating. He'd run every simulation back on base, he'd passed the toughest tests the Blade's offered, and he'd flown countless missions. Yet somehow he found himself nervous to take this test. Everyone was watching and after all the hype from his dad, he was terrified to fail. His biggest concern was the controls, everything would be in English and the controls were completely different than anything his people had built. But it was ok, he had studied them.

"ID 12599 – Please step forward."

"James Griffin – Piloting." Keith rolled his eyes; of course that dick would be in his program. James moved to the side and put on the flight suit. Keith watched carefully, being sure to note every button, snap, and zipper as well as the placement of each piece. These suits were so different from the Blade suits and he knew it was going to mess him up, especially their size; they were incredibly bulky. The red light flashed again, accompanied by a loud buzzing sound, as the current pilot failed the simulation. So far only one person had passed and it took them nearly one and a half hours to do so. They'd flown so cautiously that even though they had passed, their insanely high run-time balanced out the score with the rest of the cadets.

Final scores were calculated based on a variety of things, some of which were simulation run-time, pass or fail of simulation, how steady you kept the craft, your control of the craft, and more. The list was actually almost two pages long of everything they were grading. But most important were how long it took you and if you passed / failed.

The current pilot stepped out and removed their helmet revealing familiar tanned skin and blue eyes. The name 'Lance McClain' appeared on the board a little over halfway down – still in the 'Fighter Class' section, bumping a 'Mason Tilly' down to Cargo Class. James stepped into the sim and the doors locked, initiating his test. The screen on the back of the capsule lit up displaying his building score and time elapsed. "ID 12600 – Please step forward." Keith watched Ina step up and was surprised that a robot was allowed to be a Cadet. He had assumed she was some sort of support droid for Nadia.

"Ina Leifsdottir – Piloting." _Whaaaaat_? No way! If anything she should be an Engineer! He realized his jaw was hanging open when Nadia closed it for him with a giggle.

The light went green and James passed the sim – _hurray, _his sarcastic inner monologue cheered while he rolled his eyes. The run took a total of 48 minutes; the fastest time yet. Keith was determined to beat him. The cocky grin on the James' face as he exited the sim and removed his helmet, pausing to watch his name appear at the top of the list, was incredibly infuriating. Ina entered and the next ID was called.

Both Nadia and Ina had done well, neither passed – but both had incredibly high scores with great run times and were now sitting relatively high on the list. Even if every Cadet left somehow out-flew them, they would stay in 'Fighter Class'. "ID 12639 – Please step forward."

"Keith Kogane – Piloting." There were some murmurs from students who recognized his surname but he ignored them, stepping forward to dress in the flight suit. It was even heavier than he'd anticipated, though the bulk was as expected. He waited patiently for a 'Ryan Kinkade' to finish his run. Another pass. His run time was just over an hour, which put him directly below James on the scoreboard.

Keith stepped into the machine. There were three stations setup but only one was currently active; the simulator being pre-programmed for individual runs instead of teams. He settled down in the pilot's seat, checking over the controls. When they had signed him up, he received a training manual that depicted each of the control, the various buttons, and dashboard icons. Keith had made sure to commit the entirety of the book to memory. Staring down at the simulator in front of him he felt a wave of relief, everything was identical to the manual and he knew exactly what to do.

The screen booted up in front of him, automatically selecting 'Cadet Class Allocation Simulation Test: Version 5.6' and Keith took a deep calming breath. "_Let's do this_" he muttered to himself in Galran and the screen began the countdown. 3 … 2 … 1 … _GO!_

Immediately he was flying through a basic training sequence. All he had to do was hit the red arrows as they appeared while avoiding debris, sounds easy enough. The further he went in the simulation, the more debris appeared for him to dodge. Each arrow was worth 10 points if you hit it dead center, 5 points if you hit it on the side, and 1 point if you grazed it or entered the general proximity of the arrow but didn't actually hit it. If you missed an arrow it vanished behind you. The sim let you control your speed and flight patterns as if actually flying but it was nowhere near as advanced and seamless as the simulators the Blade of Marmora had. He'd rolled his eyes at what was essentially child's play to him.

The image of James' smug face popped up in his mind and Keith pushed the simulator to its maximum speed, whipping around debris; not missing a single arrow in the process. After … awhile (he actually had no way of knowing how much time had passed) he reached the final three arrows. Just as he went to hit the first – it jumped suddenly to relocate on the screen. Jerking the controls he managed to hit the side of it and collect 5 points. The other two final arrows did the same, but Keith was ready for them and managed to hit their centers. The simulator screen flashed green – he'd passed.

Keith stepped out of the simulator and looked up at the scoreboard – he'd knocked James off the top spot. A fluttering of pride welled up inside him and he looked out the room's many windows to see his dad jumping and 'high-fiving' the various Officers and Cadets gathered to watch, a massive grin swallowing his face. His basic score was higher than James as he hadn't missed any of the arrows and James had missed 3. But the best part, what really made him grin, was his run-time: 32 minutes. He walked around the side of the simulator pod only to be tackled by Nadia.

"OMG THAT WAS INSANE! You should see James' face, he's so pissed!" She was bouncing on her feet and clutching the collar of his flight suit as she shook him. Normally he would have been upset with the contact, but his adrenaline was still pumping heavily through his veins and he merely chuckled, letting a grin slide into place.

"Well done Cadet Kogane." Commander Iverson slapped his back, nearly knocking him over and Officer Shiro was walking towards them with a massive smile on his face. Commander Iverson walked away, calling the final Cadet ID, just as Officer Shiro approached.

"Keith right?" He nodded. "You're dad is pretty excited up there."

"Thank you, sir."

"Those were some impressive scores. You managed to break the run-time record of a Passing run that was set by a fully licensed pilot." Keith blushed under the Officer's praise.

"You mean I broke _your_ run-time record for a Passing run." He responded with a wry smile and watched Officer Shiro's grin stretched across his face.

"Yup. And I'm the one who beat the previous record held by your dad." They laughed lightly until a horrified shriek pulled him back to reality.

"CARGO CLASS_?_ How did I get bumped down to _Cargo _Class?" He watched rich blue eyes set in soft caramel skin as they read the scoreboard and narrowed murderously at the new name, sitting right at the top. "_Kogane!" _He seethed and whipped his head around to glare hatefully at Keith who felt himself whither under the intensity of the other boy's gaze.

"Success doesn't always bring admirers." Officer Shiro whispered knowingly beside him and he nodded. The look in those beautiful blue eyes said he was going to make Keith's time at the Galaxy Garrison as difficult as possible. Keith groaned. What did he get himself into?


	4. Friends and Enemies

**FRIENDS AND ENEMIES**

Keith was lost. The welcome packets had included a map of the grounds but he'd left his entire packet back at the cabin – like a fool! All of these halls were identical, every turn opening up to yet another clone of where he'd just been. The Blade bases were designed far more efficiently, _stars_ even the Empire bases were better than this mess. He stared at the junction, looking to the left he could see 4 doors on one side and 5 on the other, while to his right there was only 3 on one side and 2 on the other. He groaned and pulled out the phone his dad had given him. Texting Nadia to ask for help, he paused just before hitting the send button when he felt a faint tapping on his right shoulder. Turning around he was greeted by the generally confused expression of Ina.

A lot had happened in the past two weeks. He had finished moving the rest of his things into his dorm, had submitted his report to Ms. Proxa (receiving a new assignment in return), found out Ina was actually a Human, and discovered the difference between the symbols on the bathroom doors. The last two had unfortunately been at the same time. He felt bad for Ina, but he felt worse for himself – he could go his entire life without ever needing to see _that_ again! Luckily Ina was very forgiving and their friendship hadn't suffered because of it.

Ina and Nadia were roommates, so naturally the three of them hung out in the girl's dorm most of the time. The downside was that they both knew James from their time at the same 'Galaxy Garrison Summer Camp For Future Astro-Explorers', which meant he hung out with them from time to time. Since Nadia knew about his 'preferences' as she put it, the girl was constantly making little jokes here and there, or snickering if he said something that could be taken the wrong way. Keith was now constantly vigilant to ensure he didn't give away if he found anyone attractive, lest Nadia jump all over it.

Ina cleared her throat and Keith realized he'd been lost in thought. Shaking his head he smiled at her. "Got lost." Was all he said, but with Ina it was all he needed to say.

"Destination?"

"Commissary." She nodded at his direct response.

"Follow me." Nadia was a lot of fun. Now that he'd gotten to know her better, he found she was a mix of Regris and Marra rolled up into one bouncy Human package. But Ina was soooo much easier to be around. He felt more relaxed in her presence, like she wouldn't judge him for being himself. Which was nice because 'himself' was an actual alien who had no idea about any Earth culture, customs, or mannerisms.

They marched through the halls side by side as she led him in the right direction. "Can you find your dorm from here?"

"Nope." She snickered at that and handed him her map.

"I have committed the entirety of the Garrison grounds to memory and no longer require assistance. You may have my map if you'd like or, simply head to the resource center and acquire a new one." He stared blankly and blinked, why the quiznak hadn't he thought of that?

"Thank you, Ina." She nodded to him and left, walking back down the way they'd just come. He smiled after her, clearly she'd gone out of her way to help and it made him feel good, like she genuinely cared.

"You got a thing for Leifsdottir? Makes sense, you're both _odd_, except _she's_ actually nice." He whirled around to find a smug looking James standing with a dark skinned young man. Thanks to his Blade training, Keith had made a file on each noteworthy person. Some people had files because he thought them to be potentially of use to him, others had files because they were prospects for the Blue Paladin, and others yet had files because he felt the need to keep tabs on them. James fell into the latter category.

Keith eyed him suspiciously and mentally flicked through his file.

Pilot Class: Fighter  
Roommate: Ryan Kinkade  
Personality: Dick  
Weaknesses: Scared of getting in trouble with higher command | Rule breaking | Failure | Peanuts  
Allies: Ryan Kinkade | Nadia Rizavi | Ina Leifsdottir | Emma Sinclair | Dylan Meijer  
Foes: Lance McClain | Keith Kogane | Matt Holt | Margret McConnell

Putting two and two together, he came to the conclusion that this individual was Kinkade. It had actually taken Keith several days to properly adjust to Humans referring to each other by their surname instead of their given name, which he found incredibly strange. He'd been written up once already for insubordination after failing to acknowledge Commander Iverson when the man had called out '_Kogane!_' instead of '_Keith!'._ That one was silly; he felt he shouldn't have gotten in trouble for that since it wasn't his fault! However, throwing the receiver at his communications technician after the idiot caused their simulator to crash _had_ been his fault and he'd definitely deserved the detention he received for that one. But in his defense, the com-tech he'd been assigned was an absolute dipshit.

His name was Trevor Iris and he did. Not. Listen! The moron had no clue what he was doing and there was no way he would last. Sooner or later he would be booted from the program and replaced with a wait-listed recruit. Keith would _love_ to be there when they delivered the news.

His mechanical engineer was named Hunk Garrett and seemed like a pretty cool guy. He had a bit of a weak stomach but it didn't matter too much since Keith was a damn good pilot. He was usually (when the com-tech wasn't fucking around) able to keep their simulator steady and not jostle them too much. Some movement was unavoidable, like the whole pod leaning to the left if he had to make a turn, but otherwise he tried to prevent the mechanical engineer's vomiting. The only downside to Hunk was that he was roommates with BlueEyes.

"Hey weirdo, are you even listening to me?"

"No." Keith deadpanned, because honestly he really wasn't. He'd been so wrapped up in his own thoughts that he'd completely forgotten James was even standing in front of him.

"Gawd, you have no concept of how to be normal _at all!_ It's like you're a fucking alien or something." Now THAT caught his attention. Snapping his eyes up to meet James' stare he glared menacingly.

"What did you just call me?"

"I called you 'weirdo'. Want me to come up with something more colourful? Let's see there's Daddy's boy, or how about freak, or maybe you'd prefer psycho? Stop me when I land on one that fits." The sneer on his face made Keith see red. He didn't even think about his actions, merely hissing violently and swiping at him with his claws – except he didn't have those anymore, so instead he balled his hand into a fist and slammed it into the side of Griffin's jaw. Kinkade had already walked away, having headed over to a nearby group of girls in an effort to impress them, but was now rushing over to backup his friend.

The dark skinned boy reached for Keith's collar to yank him back, but the Blade ducked and swept the other's feet out from under him. The boy crashed down hard on the floor, letting James run off while Keith was distracted. _Coward._ He thought to himself but stood and offered his hand.

Kinkade gave him a weird look, distrustful, as though he was afraid the sudden display of civility was a trap. Keith rolled his eyes. "Fine suit yourself." He said and mumbled under his breath about Humans being weird. He made sure that was in Galran so it wouldn't be understood.

"Yo, what the hell man. Why'd you go and attack Griffin like that?" The other boy was standing now, brushing his uniform off and looking at Keith like he was a bomb that would explode at any moment. Keith rolled his eyes.

"He started it." Crossing his arms and mumbling '_arrogant ass_' under his breath, he noticed James coming back with one of their instructors and groaned. "Quiznaking tattletale." Kinkade gave him an odd look but Keith maintained his expressionless stare.

"Cadet Kogane, follow me to Commander Iverson's office. Cadet Kinkade, did you witness the incident?"

"No sir." The instructor nodded and turned back to Keith, signalling for him to follow. It was his second week at the Garrison and this would be the third time Commander Iverson had to reprimand him. _Stars,_ his dad was going to lose his mind when he found out.

They arrived at Iverson's office and he was told to sit on a seat outside the door. The Commander was on the phone but he looked absolutely livid. After a minute or two the door ripped open and a deep voice bellowed at him from above.

"KOGANE. The only reason you aren't on your way out the door is because of your insanely impressive simulator scores. You step one toe out of line and that daddy of yours will be coming to collect you in a box. Have I made myself clear?"

"Yes sir."

"I've seen the security footage and I know you threw the first blow. I don't care if Cadet Griffin deserved it or not, the fact of the matter is you hit him and he didn't hit you. Understand?"

"Yes sir."

"Good. You're banned from the simulators for the next week. I'll leave you the privilege of explaining to your team why they don't get to practice for the upcoming performance exam." He winced, Trevor was going to be pissed, Hunk would probably forgive him. "Dismissed."

Keith saluted the Commander and headed back to his dorm. Part of him wanted to avoid James at all costs, and part of him wanted to hunt down that piece of shit and show him exactly why the entire Universe feared the Galra. Instead, he left it in the hands of fate and took the most direct route back to his room.

He stopped at Hunk's door and hesitantly knocked. It was BlueEyes that answered, because of course it was!

"Coño! What the hell do you want Mullet?" Keith rolled his eyes. The guy was lucky he was hot cause he'd get nowhere with that personality.

"Nothing from you Lance. Is Hunk here?"

"Pfft. Yeah what's it to you?"

"Obviously I need to speak with him dipshit."

"Hunk's busy not being harassed by Mullets." Keith rolled his eyes – again. Seriously, what was this guy's problem? Swallowing his pride, he extended his hand and a proverbial olive tree. Branch? Didn't matter – proverbial stick.

"Look, I think we got off on the wrong feet. Can we start over? I'm Keith."

"I know your name Mullet. And it's 'wrong foot' not 'wrong feet'. Gawd, learn English; I did." And with that he shut the door in Keith's face.

He stood there, stunned. That quiznaking ass wasn't getting away with this! Slamming his fist against the door, he pounded and yelled. "LANCE, YOU ASSHOLE, OPEN THE DAMN DOOR!" People stared.

"_NO! Fuck off Mullet._" Came from the other side and Keith was fuming. He pounded on the door again and this time it opened. Hunk stood nervously in the frame, his left hand holding the door and his right hand rubbing the back of his neck.

"Hey Keith, uh – sorry about that." He stepped out of the room, shutting the door behind him just as a balled up sock flew through the crack and hit Keith's head dead center. He'd have been impressed with the boy's aim if he wasn't so pissed off. Instead he bent down and picked it up – it was Garrison issue, which meant it was part of Lance's uniform. He wasn't getting it back. "Let's talk in your room." Hunk smiled at him and he nodded, turning heel and heading for his own dorm, sock in hand.

* * *

Hunk had taken the news pretty well. He'd agreed that James probably had it coming but scolded Keith for his rash behaviour.

"I don't understand. Why does everyone have a problem with me? I haven't done anything to them!" He threw his hands in the air and fell back against his pillow. Hunk was sitting backwards in the desk chair and spinning it from side to side while his chin rested on chair's back, his arms holding the side.

"Dunno man, you seem alright to me."

"Gee, thanks Hunk."

"Look, I dunno dude but maybe, like – it has something to do with you being at the top of the list or something, I dunno. That could be it. Or maybe it's your personality. No offense."

"Uh, some offense taken!" He lifted his head to look at Hunk, before dropped it again at the guy's sheepish expression. Keith continued to toss the sock in the air, catching and repeating the action as he talked to his teammate. "What do you mean 'my personality'? What's wrong with it?"

"No no no, I didn't mean to offend you or anything. Dammit. I just – I don't know, sometimes you can be a little …"

"A little what?" he pressed, a slight edge to his tone.

"Prickly. Like, you're actually a pretty nice guy but it's buried under a layer of stabby things. Like a cactus, or uh, - OH like a warhead candy – sweet on the inside but you have to get past the intense and painfully sour part first."

"So you think I'm sour? I'm not sour! I just - have a hard time with hu-people. Culture shock I guess." He ended up muttering the end but it didn't matter, Hunk heard him and made an annoying 'aww' sound.

"Must be hard being so far away from home. I keep forgetting you _just _moved here – you know, cause your English is really good and all."

"Well according to BlueEyes I need to learn the language."

"Blue Eyes?" Hunk asked with a grin. _OH STARS! _Had that been out loud? _QUIZNAK! Quiznaking quiznakity quizy quiznak!_

"Yeah, uh – I remember people based on their most defining feature."

"And for Lance it's his eyes?"

"They're very blue."

"Mhm. I don't really pay attention to his eyes." Keith internally facepalmed. "But hey if you do, then that's cool man. No judging."

"Tell him, and I swear to the Ancients I'll make vomiting in the simulator the least of your fears." Hunk's eyes flew wide and he audibly gulped. Keith paused as he watched the other boy's face pale. "It's that kind of stuff that makes the other Cadets think I'm a weirdo isn't it?"

"Yup. Definitely dude." Shit.

"Quiznak." Oh, double SHIT! He'd done that backwards! English swear in his head, Common swear outloud.

"What's Quiznak?"

"A curse word. Like 'fuck' I guess." _Please let this go, please, please, please let this go._ He mentally pleaded with the boy.

"Oh cool. Hey, now I know a word in Danish!" Hunk looked so happy that Keith didn't have the heart to correct him. He just blushed and nodded his head. "Maybe, you know – if you're homesick or something, you could – uh, teach me some more words in Danish. I can teach you some Samoan words."

"Uh, sure. What language does Lance speak?"

"Spanish. Why?" Ah crap. Hunk had an absolutely massive grin spreading across his face.

"I want to be able to understand the names he calls me." Hunk's face fell a bit, but he nodded along any ways.

"Oh yeah, ok – um, yeah that – that actually makes a lot of sense."

"Cool."

"Cool."

Keith chuckled. He really did like Hunk.

"So uh, can I – can I get Lance's sock back?"

"Nope."

* * *

Trevor had taken the news substantially worse than Hunk. He threw an absolute fit in the middle of the cafeteria. Thank the Ancients for Hunk because the giant yupper of a guy appeared out of nowhere and pulled the livid com-tech into a tight embrace. It took awhile, but eventually he had calmed down enough to stop throwing grapes at Keith who had taken to using his dining tray as a shield.

"You idiot. You absolute _fucking_ idiot! Are you retarded? Because I think you just might be! DON'T fuck with James Griffin! His family practically paid for the new science lab. Gawd it's like you're _trying_ to get yourself kicked from the program! Griffin is untouchable Kogane. The faster you figure that out, the easier all of our lives will be!" Trevor's face was as red as the blood boiling in his veins. Keith could have easily subdued him, even without his Blade training, but he'd decided that was probably counter-productive.

"I'm sorry, ok? I didn't think James was a spineless coward who'd run off and tattletale at the first sign of conflict!" A collective 'oooo' sounded in the cafeteria and Keith continued to stand his ground. He would refrain from a physical response, and he would refrain from throwing the grapes back, but he would _not_ back down. The thing about Keith is, while he may be hot-headed and rash; rushing into situations without necessarily thinking them through fully, he was NOT an idiot. He knew the only reason James hadn't gotten in trouble was because he didn't physically attack Keith in any way. So Keith would practice his restraint and hold back the urge to drag his claws down the side of Trevor's face. He would stand his ground using his words instead of his claws and teeth – which were just itching to tear into the other boy's flesh. _STARS_ he wanted to teach him a lesson. But this wasn't the Blades, Trevor wasn't a Galra, and he had to abide by Human standards of conflict resolution. Which sucked. Besides, with his claws filed down to useless stubs they wouldn't have inflicted much damage anyways.

"You have a problem with me Kogane?" James' arrogant face appeared behind him again. Damn him for taking advantage of Keith's otherwise occupied focus. He had a cocky smirk twisting at his lips and a raised brow as he waited for Keith to bury himself. But not this time, nope! Keith was not going to give this asshole the privilege of besting him twice.

"I think we established that when my fist realigned your jaw asshole." There was murder in those dark grey eyes and Keith new if it weren't for the cameras or the witnesses, James would have actually hit back this time. Which would be a mistake, Keith could crush him – but he didn't know that, did he. The thought made the Blade smile. On the surface he was an ordinary teen, one who had traveled to another country to get to know his father and attend a military academy in the hopes of being a pilot. But underneath, he was a highly trained assassin and covert operative who had traveled across the universe to another galaxy entirely. He narrowed his eyes at James, the knowing smile cementing in place. "You going to run and tell your instructor friend? Or perhaps you'll go straight to Commander Iverson this time?" He could see it, James was about to snap and then –

"What's going on in here?" Officer Shiro and his mate walked in, coming to separate the ever-thickening tension growing between the two boys. "Adam, take Cadet Griffin to your office. I'll take Cadet Kogane." The other nodded and led a seething James out of the cafeteria as Officer Shiro turned to look Keith in the eyes. He didn't say anything, but he didn't need to either. The look of disappointment was enough to cause all of the fight in him to fall way.

Slumping his shoulders and lowering his stance, Keith felt the blush of embarrassment flood his cheeks. He could hear some of the students whispering about how they thought James was about to deck him, or how they'd hoped Keith would kick the other's ass but he ignored them.

"Cadet Kogane, follow me please." Keith nodded and followed Officer Shiro to his office.

The office was small, not even half the size of Commander Iverson's. There was barely enough space for the small desk in the room, making Keith need to fold himself out of the way as he tried to close the office door. Taking the seat that had been tucked in the corner, he sat facing Officer Shiro and waited for the older to finally say something, anything!

"Keith, I'm very disappointed. You have such potential and a natural skill as a pilot that's incredibly rare. But you seem to lack common sense." The directness of the other's words caught him off guard. He hadn't really expected it and his eyes blew wide as he stared back at the man. "I'm not going to sugar coat this, cause I have the feeling you'd rather hear it straight." Keith nodded in agreement. "That's what I thought. You need to leave Cadet Griffin alone. I know he started it, we could hear the screaming from the Officer's lounge, and I witnessed the whole thing. I know you didn't start it but if it had escalated I can guarantee you that you'd be the one getting the brunt of the trouble."

He opened his mouth to object, about so say that it was hardly fair, when Officer Shiro put his hand up and effectively silenced him just a look. "I'm not saying it's fair Keith. But James has a clean record and you already have three offenses on yours. You've been labelled as 'hostile' and Commander Iverson wasn't being dramatic when he said one more offense would have you expelled. If you're not careful you could ruin your entire future – Cadet Griffin isn't worth that."

He wanted to roll his eyes and say his future wasn't in any real danger just because of James. He wanted to say that the pettiness of Humans didn't really impact his life in the long run, but he kept his mouth shut. The long run wasn't what he was worried about right now. His father had been right, the Galaxy Garrison was his best chance to find the paladin of the Blue Lion, he could _feel_ it deep inside that the paladin was here, and Keith would need to be present to find them. He'd been trained by the best of the best; a highly qualified agent in the Blade of Marmora should be able handle fucking high school! Or at least one would think. But this wasn't what he'd been trained for; he'd been trained as a soldier and a pilot, not a politician. His interpersonal skills were greatly lacking.

"Officer Shiro?"

"Just Shiro." Shiro had a kind smile, and Keith felt as thought he could be trusted, as though this man in front of him would have his back.

"Shiro." He corrected. "Where I'm from, everything is so different. I just – I'm finding it much harder than I thought it would be to adjust." He may not be able to offer full transparency, but he could at least be as honest as possible.

"That's really big of you to admit. I remember when I first came to the Garrison. I'd transferred from the Yokohama campus midway through my first year. It was tough, my English wasn't that great and I had a hard time making friends outside of the other Japanese students."

"How did you get past that?"

"I had someone who looked out for me." There was a far off smile in his eyes, a fondness that softened his already kind expression. "I joined one of the clubs, fencing to be exact, and met a boy who helped me adjust." There was a blush on his cheeks now and Keith put the pieces together.

"Is that the Officer you have chosen as your mate?"

"My WHAT?" Shiro looked at him wide eyed and Keith racked his brain trying to figure out where he went wrong. "If you mean Adam then – uh, yeah kinda. He's my fiancé."

"What's a fiancé?"

"It's like a boyfriend but um, we're going to get married."

"And married is a partnership union correct?"

"Uh, yeah I guess so." Shiro had a hesitant tone, as if he was incredibly uncomfortable.

"Ok - chosen mate." Keith nodded and he made a mental note to adjust the terms in his mind to the English versions for future use; giving himself a little pat on the back for having deciphered the terms on his own in the process.

"Do they not use the 'married' and 'fiancé' in Denmark?" huh? Oh right, quiznak.

"Uh ..." Immediately rushing into his next thought, not allowing the topic to linger, Keith changed the subject back. "So what were saying about fencing and joining a club?"

"What? Oh, right. Um, yeah so I joined the fencing club and Adam was assigned as my partner. We became friends and he helped me with my English and adjusting to life in America. It's actually because of him that I stayed; my intentions were to return to Japan after graduation."

"But you fell in love?"

Shiro blushed. "Yeah. Sometimes you find things where you least expect them." He had that far off look once again; little hearts floating in his eyes and Keith stifled a laugh. "Ok ok, I'm a sap but you'll be a sap too one day. All it takes is a pair of nice eyes and bright smile for some pretty girl to have you wrapped around her finger, just you wait!"

"Hmpf, I doubt that."

"It happens to the best of us." Keith rolled his eyes and Shiro narrowed his, titling his head to the side slightly. "You know, there's more than just the fencing club. If you'd like to meet other 'like minded' individuals, you're welcome to join me on Thursday at twenty hundred hours in room 208-A for the Garrison's LGBTQ+ meeting. Adam and I are the faculty advisors."

Keith gave him a quizzical look having absolutely no idea what the acronym stood for but sensing Shiro was substantially more observant than he was letting on. What ever it was, Keith would only know if he attended.

* * *

The days went by without much incident. James pretty much left him alone and, since his team wasn't allowed in the simulator, he hadn't seen much of Trevor either. All in all it had been a peaceful week.

Without the simulator, Keith found himself spending that time in his dorm, working on his assignments for Ms. Proxa. His classes in Common were finally finished, Keith having mastered the language, and he was now being assigned to study the basics of Altean. Why the language of an ancient, long dead, civilization was the foundation of scientific and mathematical study was beyond him. Parts for pods were labelled in Altean, precise measurements were done using Altean units, and scientific naming systems used Altean. The point was for it to be universal, but wasn't that why they had Common?

He groaned as he flipped through the assignments in his data pad, settling on 'Introductory Altean'. His notes from Ms. Proxa made it very clear that the safety setting was to be activated before beginning if he was in a public, or semi-public, area. Going through the settings he chose 'Galran' as the base language, turned on the subtitles, and activated the safety before initiating the program. A soft, soothingly calm voice sounded and he settled into his chair.

{ Welcome, to Introductory Altean. Level: Beginner. Safety: On. }

The image of a long extinct creature accompanied by Altean words appeared on his screen and the Galran subtitles translated below it. The soothing voice started again.

{ Klanmüirl }

He repeated it back. Incorrectly it seemed because the screen lit up bright red and an obnoxious beeping sound nearly blew out his eardrums. Ripping the ear-buds out he shrieked and tried to stop the painful ringing in his ears. _Stars! That was safety ON?_ He didn't dare attempt with the safety off! The program was still beeping like mad, and he repeated 'Klanmüirl' at least 4 more times before getting it right.

{ Xnly Squiwl }

"Oh quiznak!" He rolled his eyes and prepared for the inevitable beeping.

* * *

An alert sounded on his Garrison data pad and Keith paused the lesson. Reaching over, he pulled the Earth tech closer and opened up the messaging app. It was a message from Shiro.

{ Hey Keith,

Just a reminder that the Galaxy Garrison's LGBTQ+ Club meets in 30 minutes. Room 208-A if you're still interested. If it helps – there will be snacks! See you then.

Sincerely,  
Officer, Takeshi Shirogane }

He didn't have any other plans. Nadia and Ina were have a 'girls night' and, as a boy, he wasn't invited. So his evening was free. Empty. Totally open. Groaning, Keith threw his head back on the chair and spun around a few times, which only served to make him slightly dizzy. He got up and made his way to the closet to change into something that wasn't just his boxer briefs and ran a brush through his hair before heading out the door.

He walked the halls without a map now, having spent a whole evening memorizing the layout like Ina had. Keith was glad he had done this, as it was much more convenient to just _know_ where you were going. It also let him take alternate routes if he was trying to avoid James. Or Trevor. Or both … and sometimes BlueEyes.

Keith placed his student card on the door scanner and it opened, revealing a standard lecture hall that had a table setup at the side covered in snacks and a pitcher of juice. There were quite a few students milling about and no one really paid any attention when he walked in. Shiro did though. He had been standing by the snack table talking excitedly with his mate Adam, but was now walking over (dragging Adam by the arm) to greet Keith with a large smile.

"Hey! Keith you made it! That's great."

"Uh, yeah."

"This is Adam. Have you met?"

"Uh, no." He suddenly found that he was incredibly nervous to be in the room. What if he didn't like the club's activity? He didn't know LGBTQ+ was but he knew fencing was a sport, and so was soccer, and chess kinda, and most of the other clubs were sports-y in some way. He didn't know how to play, he didn't know the rules, and he didn't know any of his teammates. So he offered Shiro a half-smile and almost bolted when a voice caught his attention.

"Wha-? No way – MULLET?" Keith whipped around to stare into the most stunning pair of blue eyes imaginable. They were mere inches from his face and he could smell the hair product, or lotion, or soap of the beautiful pain-in-the-ass before him.

"Hey, Lance." Smiling brightly he greeted BlueEyes; genuinely glad to see a familiar face, even if it was mildly hostile.

"What are _you_ doing here?"

"Shiro invited me."

"Shiro?" He watched as those sparkling blues scanned over Shiro and Adam and realization dawned in them. "Officer Takeshi Shirogane?"

"Yeah, Shiro." Keith smiled as the other boy's jaw dropped and Shiro stepped forward, offering his hand.

"Hello, Lance is it?" There was a knowing hint to those words and Keith narrowed his eyes suspiciously at the man, but Shiro just radiated warmth and kindness.

"Uh, yeah. Nice to meet you Officer Shirogane."

"Please, call me Shiro." And somehow his smile grew even brighter. Keith watched as Adam melted at the man's side and any hostility Lance held was washed away. "This is Keith's first time at one of our meetings so can I count on you to show him the ropes since you know each other?"

"Of course, Officer – er, Shiro." Lance was puffing up his chest with pride, having been entrusted with Shiro's guest and the Officer beamed at him.

"Great! Let's get started then." He turned to the room and his voice rose to command the attention of everyone present. "Welcome everybody, take a seat and let's get to know our new members and guests!" Lance grabbed him by the wrist and dragged Keith over to a seat by the isle. They sat beside each other and it took almost an entire dobash before Keith's quiznaking heart slowed down.

Introductions went around the room in a circle, each person standing to say their name and what brought them to the club. His turn was coming up and he started to get nervous. What did he say? Shiro brought him? He was invited by Officer Shirogane? He needed to make friends so he came here? Lame, lame, and lamer!

"Lance McClain. I came to this meeting because my sister Veronica is super supportive and also a little mean. She told me I had to embrace who I am … or else." Some people chuckled and others didn't react but Lance was blushing heavily and he sat down with a thud, clearly embarrassed. Keith stood.

"Keith Kogane. Shiro made me." And he sat back down. Beside Shiro, Adam spat out his juice laughing and Shiro snickered, shaking his head as he smiled.

"I didn't _make_ you. I suggested it."

"And you sent me 3 reminders."

"Fair." Shiro rolled his eyes. "Ok, who's next?"

* * *

The meeting had actually been a lot of fun. He'd surprised a few people (Lance included) when he admitted that he didn't know what the acronym stood for. Then again when he questioned why they even needed a support group. He'd actually had a very angry girl yell about it until a much nicer girl asked him to elaborate. He'd explained that where he came from it wasn't a big deal, totally normal, and that he hadn't even considered that it could be anything else. Unfortunately that opened up a series of questions about Denmark that he had no clue how to answer. So Keith had just stared at them for a moment before turning and walking away. Probably not the best way to handle the situation but - meh!

There were a few familiar faces he knew from class as well as a surprise. When they saw each other, Matt decided that tackling him in a 'bear hug' was an acceptable form of greeting. It was not. Keith had not enjoyed that.

As it turned out, Matt was close friends with Shiro and had come along to offer support and eat all the snacks. His girlfriend, Beth, had come along also and she was very – interesting to say the least. She was short, peppy, and really really into aliens, robots, and cryptids. Matt and Beth spent roughly 20 minutes talking to him about the possibility of alien life, something that made Keith actively struggle to maintain a straight face. Beth rambled on and on about how any potential E.T.'s might find the idea of Human heteronormativity to be strange and inconceivable even. She'd had to stop and explain what the word meant before continuing on her tangent, and Keith tried desperately not to snicker. Less than a varga ago he'd been confused by the very same thing. But he couldn't exactly tell Matt how incredibly right they were, so instead he'd smiled and nodded along.

By the time the meeting ended he was walking back to his dorm with Lance. Their rooms were down the hall from one another so they were headed in the same direction. Lance had talked excitedly about the fundraiser the club was planning and how much fun it was going to be, saying he desperately wanted to be on the decoration committee. He'd chatted away almost their entire walk, mentioning that he was excited to join because he'd get to meet so many great people and that Keith should join too cause it would get him out more. He'd rolled his eyes at that one but was seriously considering the offer. Maybe having some Earth friends wouldn't hurt; he was going to be stuck on this planet for a while so he may as well enjoy the time here. Nadia and Ina were great, but this club could be great too.

He'd made it back to his room and waved goodbye to Lance. Closing the door and making his way over to the desk, he noticed several missed messages from Kolivan on his Marmora data pad asking why he hadn't submitted a report in over a movement. Keith groaned and collapsed on his bed, deciding he couldn't possibly be in any more trouble if he just left it till tomorrow.


	5. Bad Decisions

**BAD DECISIONS**

Keith was fully aware that the other Cadets thought he was strange. His hearing was substantially better than theirs and he'd overheard several private conversations not meant for his ears. Some of it hurt his feelings, other bits made him snicker, and others yet were down right puzzling. There was a girl in one of his classes who for some reason called 'dibs' on him and talked about a thing called a 'Shady Hawk Kin' dance. This one in particular was still confusing him as Keith had googled hawks and their kin only to learn they were a bird species native to Earth but had no relation to Humans. Why the Human's had a special dance for this species was baffling.

He knew they talked about him, he'd heard it after all, but it was the _looks_ he sometimes got that startled him the most. BlueEyes was pretty useful for letting Keith know when he was being weird, the boy's face was incredibly expressive and he'd found himself glancing in the other's direction for validation from time to time. The most common thing he'd heard was that Keith was '_strangely cat-like'_ and some of the Cadets had taken to leaving balls of string on his desk when they were in particularly malevolent moods.

One time, someone had even handed him a snack that was fish flavoured. He'd eaten it and the others had laughed, showing him the packaging and revealing that it was cat treats. Well, jokes on them 'cause Keith pulled a power move and ate the whole bag during class, much to the horror of the other Cadets. They were pretty damn good though.

Currently he was sitting in the back of the class, filing his claws down. They grew incredibly quickly and he was constantly filing them to ensure they never surpassed an acceptable nail length for a Human male. It was tedious but necessary, and he'd taken to carrying a file with him at all times. The class he wasn't paying any attention to was 'Social & Cultural Studies', or something to that effect. Their instructor was discussing how differing cultural practices can make diplomatic endeavours difficult if one party were to inadvertently gaffe a social cue. He'd tuned it out mostly – until he heard the words 'Alien Culture'.

"So the project will be due by the end of the month at which time your presentations will take place." Keith sighed and raised his hand. "Yes? In the back."

"Um, what's the assignment?" He heard some snickers and a few groans, but he was more focused on the look of exasperation being thrown his way by the instructor.

"Were you not listening?"

"No Ma'am." He slunk down in his seat, embarrassed as all eyes were now focused on him.

"And what, pray tell, was more important?" he mumbled out a 'nothing ma'am' but she continued to glare. "Well? What were you doing if you weren't paying attention?" one of the Cadets muttered '_his nails'_ and another snorted, but Keith decided the truth probably wasn't going to help his cause.

"Nothing Ma'am. Lost in thought."

"Day dreaming." She tisked and shook her head continuing. "I'll make a note of this and automatically deduct 25 marks from your assignment." He groaned. "For anyone else who may have been daydreaming, pay attention. We will hold a mock UN meeting at the end of this term and you will each be representing a different Alien culture. You are to create this culture, name them, describe their physical characteristics, their home planet, their diets, their customs, etc. and explain how all of this comes together to affect their cultural norms and practices. You will also create a spoken language for your Aliens. Bonus points if your language can be taught to, and spoken by, others as opposed to merely being 'alien sounding' gibberish.

At the end of this month you will present your Alien culture to the class, the more attention to detail, the higher your grade will be. I expect you to create clothing and present yourself as an ambassador of your species." She looked up at the clock before frowning at Keith for using the last of her time. "Dismissed."

Keith sat in his room, spinning in the desk chair and debating how much effort he was going to put into this project. On one hand, he could work his butt off and maybe pull a decent mark. On the other hand, he could do literally nothing and just present the Galra; pulling what he knew would be top marks for his 'creativity'. But that was cheating wasn't it? It was also a huge risk. He groaned and threw his head back, continuing to spin around until he made himself dizzy.

* * *

They had finished the theoretical parts of combat training and were now moving on to actual floor routines, forms, and sparring. Their class was split in two – those who had training and those who did not. Keith chose to join the former group, but not admit the extent of his training. Not to anyone. No one needed to know he could flatten their instructor in ticks.

In his group were Ina, Kinkade, James, and a bunch of people he recognized but didn't know by name. BlueEyes and Nadia were both in the other group and typical Lance was putting the moves on her. Keith stood off to the side, watching them. She was humouring him but clearly not interested as Lance flexed his skinny arms; it was hilarious. Keith snickered to himself and the instructor's voice immediately grabbed his attention back.

"Perfect. Thank you for volunteering Cadet Kogane." In utter shock he looked around at the smug faces that were calling him out for once again not paying attention. Keith groaned and stepped forward onto the mats. He tugged on the belt of his uniform. The Garrison used something called a Dobok for their martial arts training; it was incredibly similar to the special uniform he had worn back with the Blades. The primary difference was that these were loose and flowy and white, while his had been much tighter to the body and purple. Their instructor wore a black belt with a black collar and his name was apparently Dan the 4th. Keith was paraphrasing, he had actually said "I am 4th Dan'" but that sounded weird.

"Since some of you were not paying attention -" He felt himself blush. "I will begin by repeating myself for the one and _only_ time this term. Each of you will spar against me and perform a series of skill tests to determine what your equivalent rank is. You will still be required to learn all of the forms for this discipline however. Today's tests are to determine who can be safely paired together, and what each of you are capable of. Shall we begin?"

He turned to Keith and bowed low, Keith mimicked him. Their instructor fell into stance, and Keith took his own. He heard a few whispers wondering what style of martial arts he'd studied but as usual, the Blade tuned them out. His focus was set on his opponent; ready, waiting, poised to strike. Someone counted them in and the instructor came at him with a slow but precise set of jabs; Keith blocked them easily. He countered with a spinning back kick, sending the instructor flying against the mat. The man didn't stay down long, he jumped to his feet in an impressive display of agility but Keith smirked at him, it didn't matter how agile this Human was; he was still Human and Keith was Galra. No contest!

Dan lunged for him but the Blade deftly evaded, jumping over his head and dropping down to swipe the man's ankles as he landed. It was a simple move, one that had been taught to him as a beginner, but it was surprisingly effective against the instructor. As their sparring session progressed, Dan increased the skill level of his attacks, Keith blocking them with ease each time. Realization dawned on him, his movements were too quick, too fluid, not very Human like and if he wanted to fly under the radar he had to lose this match. It went against everything he had ever been taught, everything a Galra believed. But this time, for the sake of his mission, it couldn't be 'Victory or Death'. So Keith let the roundhouse hit him. He could have blocked it, he could have grabbed that ankle and spun the instructor into submission, but he took the hit; falling to the mats with an audible crack of his jaw.

The pain didn't hit him immediately; at first he knelt there and tried to process the weird feeling. It wasn't until the instructor himself started freaking out that Keith realized something was wrong. It didn't _really_ hurt, he'd had substantially worse, but it wasn't exactly a pleasure experience. The Garrison nurse was super-hot though and it gave him flashbacks to Sergin taking care of him. The nurse (Nurse Rob) felt around his jaw and confirmed that it wasn't broken, merely dislocated. The cracking sound they'd all heard had been his teeth smashing against each other from the impact.

"You're pretty lucky kid! Aaron has one hell of a roundhouse; I'm actually incredibly surprised the bone didn't break!" Keith wasn't, his bones were tougher, thicker, and stronger than a Human's. He shrugged and Nurse Rob chuckled.

"Who's Aaron?"

"Professor Montgomery. Aaron Montgomery."

"Oh, I thought he said it was Dan the 4th." Nurse Rob gave him a strange look before bursting out laughing.

"4th Dan is a belt level." _Ohhhhh_ that made sense. Keith buried his face in his hands and immediately winced at the splitting pain across his jaw. "Ok no more talking. You need to limit the use of your jaw for the next few days. Okay?" Keith nodded and Nurse Rob wrapped a very large, very ridiculous bandage under his jaw, tying it on the top of his head. "This will help to support your jaw and prevent the damage from getting any worse as it heals. Cadet, you need to leave this on for 3 days. Understand? THREE days. Come back here and I will check to make sure everything is healing properly." Keith rolled his eyes but nodded anyways; he'd be fully healed by next quintant and he knew it, but for the sake of the mission he'd humour the man. "Good. Dismissed."

He walked back to the 'Dojo' - or was it 'Dojang'? He'd heard both and was sort of confused about the difference. Keith entered the room and all of the Cadets turned to immediately stare at him. Most gasped or had expressions of sympathy but James was holding back a snicker. Keith shot him a glare, excited for when he would get the chance to spar against him.

"Cadet Kogane! Welcome back. Not broken I take it?" Keith shook his head and handed a note to Professor Montgomery. "Ok, you're on medical leave for the next three days. That's just as well, you're the highest trained of the Cadets any ways." Keith nodded and moved to sit on the floor off to the side, watching the others as they ran through forms of varying difficulty.

BlueEyes was surprisingly graceful given how long and lanky he was, and Keith found himself captivated by the boy's dance like movements as he went through the beginner forms. After a while he got bored and pulled out his Garrison issue data pad, googling the difference between Dojo and Dojang. He learned that one was a Japanese term and the other was a Korean term, both for the same thing. After class he asked professor Montgomery why they used Dojo, a Japanese term, for the room but also Dobok, a Korean term, for their uniforms.

"This Garrison campus is closely tied to the Yokohama campus in Japan, but I my training is in Taekwon-Do. So for my classes we use Korean terms, but most of the older Cadets are used to the Japanese ones from the previous instructor." Keith nodded, that made sense.

* * *

The next few days sucked. His instructors had all been informed that he was not to be called on to speak and that he _was_ to be wearing his bandage at all times. Apparently Nurse Rob had a suspicion that he would try to take it off. He was right of course, but it was still annoying. Even without being forced to actively participate in classes, Keith still found himself being overwhelmed. There was another meeting of the Garrison's LGBTQ+ club that evening but he couldn't go unless he managed to complete the assignment for his history class. Unlike the other Cadets, Keith didn't have a general knowledge of basic Earth or Human history and needed to google every. Single. Detail. It was very time consuming. He also had math homework to finish, but that wouldn't take him long. The nice thing about math and science was that they're universal. The numbers and naming systems may change, but the core fundamentals remained constant. This made math, physics, and astronomy 3 of his best subjects.

Keith was in the Piloting programs, which meant he didn't have to take the more advanced math and science courses. But even if he did, he was sure they would have been far easier on him than history or English Lit., which _suuucked._ Who was this Shakespeare guy and why did he have to talk in this weird version of English?

He leaned back in his desk chair, spin in circles once again, while he groaned. "Wow, based on those sounds I thought you were getting laid in here." Nadia chuckled as walked in the room and hopped on his bed. He almost fell out of the chair his surprise.

"The only think fucking me is this stupid assignment." The girl burst out laughing. "And if you thought I was having sex, why would you walk in my room?"

Without even so much as a blush, Nadia shrugged. "Door was unlocked." Keith rolled his eyes and tossed the pen at her head.

"What do you want Nadia?" Though he used an annoyed tone, his slight laugh gave him away. He wasn't annoyed or even upset; in fact he was grateful for the distraction.

"To propose a mutually beneficial arrangement." He rolled his eyes.

"You sound like Ina."

"We've been rooming together for far too long. Her programming is wearing off on me." They both laughed, exhaustion causing her words to be far more hilarious than they ought to be. Keith liked her wit. Their personalities couldn't be any further apart but their sense of humour lined up exactly. "Ok, here's my offer – take it or leave it!" he chuckled.

"Hit me."

"So, I need help with my simulator drills and you're clearly struggling in history. I'll help you study for the exam if you help me prep for the final sim run. Sound good?"

"Actually – that sounds perfect!"

Her broad smiled covered the entirety of her face. "Great. Since the history exam is first, I'll help you tonight and tomorrow night, then you're all mine Kogane. You – me - simulators! Be there or be square." He laughed; a genuine warm laugh at his friend.

"It's a date."

"Ooo a date? Will I get lucky?"

"Don't count on it." The rest of the evening lapsed into a comfortable comradery with laughter, light-hearted teasing, and a lot of actual studying. By the end of it, Keith felt like he was finally starting to understand the subject matter.

"OK, I think that was the first time I've actually studied during a study session with a boy." They both chuckled and Nadia yawned widely. "Need my sleep! Later Keith."

"Tomorrow?"

"You bet. Same bat time, same bat channel!"

"What?" He tilted his head slightly to the side and narrowed his eyes in confusion.

"Never mind." She waved him off with a flip of the wrist and smiled as she bounced out of his room. Keith shrugged and went to bed.

* * *

The weeks went by and Keith found himself swamped now more than ever. He had passed his history exam thanks to Nadia, and returned the favour when she aced her final sim run using his tips and suggestions. He'd been going back and forth about his Alien Culture project and how to proceed, but in the end the decision had been made for him.

Between joining a mentor-ship program with Shiro, trying to have a social life (and failing), homework from his other classes, and homework from Ms. Proxa – Keith really didn't have time to put the required effort into this project. He decided that using the Galra might blow his cover; he was Galra after all. So instead he created a fake species based on the Blades … sorta! He called them the Marmora. Keith had snickered pretty hard at that. During his last visit to see his dad at the cabin he'd retrieved his Blade suit and brought it back to the Garrison with him. He took the time to craft a mask resembling the holographic one built into his suit, since that technology was light years ahead of anything the Humans could replicate. And he made a fake dagger, finding bright purple paint to adding the Blade of Marmora's insignia on the handle. His true Marmora blade would remain hidden in his dorm room, safe from potential inspection or confiscation. All in all he was pretty proud of his project, having modified the more truly 'identity revealing' aspects of it.

Keith decided to submit Common as the language of his made up Marmora species, not wanting the Humans to be able to understand his native tongue. He copied out a transcript of the language from his Galran data pad and submitted it one week in advance, as was required if you were putting in the effort to create a teachable language. He wanted those bonus points; he needed them if he was going to make up for the ones he'd already lost.

The day of their presentations came and Keith dressed himself in his Blade suit, complete with papier-mâché mask and blade. He walked into the room and saw an array of 'aliens' as imagined by Human teenagers. It was odd. Some were really well done, looking almost reminiscent of species he'd come across on various missions, while others were straight out a children's cartoon or drug induced hallucination. The amount of effort put in varied greatly too. Like some of the other Cadets, Keith had included body paint. Under his mask he had painted two stripes, one for each cheek, in honour of his mother. His hair was pulled back into a mediocre braid, and he'd changed his eyes back to their slit pupil with yellow sclera, ready to claim they were contact lenses; he was going all out. For the first time since arriving on Earth he actually felt like himself, how ironic. Briefly he wondered if that was the right definition of ironic or if he'd gotten it wrong like that singer. And now the damn song was stuck in his head. Super.

Some students stared as he walked in but he ignored them and took his seat beside a girl wearing fake angel wings and a pair of pointy ear extensions. His own ears were slightly pointier than Humans but he normally kept them tucked into his hair and no one noticed, his father hadn't even noticed when he was cutting Keith's hair back on that first day. Today though they were pulled out, his hair tucked behind them.

The first Cadet was called to do their 5 minute presentation and the instructor proceeded to interrogate them for another 5 minutes after, before calling up the next. If a Cadet had submitted their language, the instructor would acknowledge if it qualified as a language or if it was just a series of words and sentences they had created. Only one student had a language that qualified so far, and they'd held an incredibly short question and answer session between them in the language. Finally it was his turn and he was surprisingly nervous, what if his instructor didn't like his heavily modified version of the Galra, the rest of universe sure didn't!

Standing in front of the class in his Blade of Marmora suit and papier-mâché mask, he spoke in Common. "_Greetings Humans. I am Keith, of the Marmora. I am not comfortable with this much attention."_ He watched his instructor stifle a laugh and knew she had taken the time to learn 'his' language. Behind the mask he smirked.

Keith switched back to English and proceeded to describe a heavily modified version of basic Galra culture under the guise of his 'Marmora'. Once finished he braced for the inevitable onslaught of questions.

"What is that weapon you have?"  
"It's a ceremonial blade used by our people to signify an unwavering dedication to our cause. It is _earned_ and highly cherished."

"What is your favourite cultural food dish?"  
"My favourite is berry puree, but I'm pretty easy to please. Most prefer Lentry meat pie. Our species are obligate omnivores. If it weren't for a nutritional need to vary our diets, we would choose to only eat meat."

"What is the significance of your chosen outfit?"  
"As I said in my presentation, we are a militaristic society. This is the uniform of our soldiers."

"Where did you come here from?"  
"I came from the Thaldycon system. Where I had been stationed on a base. I was given the assignment of coming to Earth and have been here ever since."

"Did you complete your aesthetic under the mask?" He nodded and revealed his painted purple stripes, a far-too-short braid, his mildly pointed ears, and his yellow eyes. The other Cadets gasped as they took in his very alien appearance and he smiled. They didn't know it, but they were seeing him as he really was (minus the purple stripes); an actual alien in their midst. "Well done Cadet. Excellent attention to detail. _This language must have taken you a long time to create. It is very detailed._" He blinked at her use of Common, forgetting that she had taken the time to learn it.

"_Thank you. It didn't take as long as you'd think though."_ She nodded and motioned for him to take his seat, moving on to the next student.

* * *

"WHAT THE HELL WERE YOU THINKIN'? Dammit Keith! You had one job, ONE JOB! Pretend to be a normal Human and don't let them Garrison folk find out yer actually an alien! Son, what the _fuck_ were you thinking?"

"That I didn't have time to do this assignment! I have all this stuff on my plate! I'm trying to blend in, I have my work for Ms. Proxa, and I have to find the Blue Paladin, AND I have to submit reports to Kolivan once a movement! I don't have time for this shit; I'm not a normal Cadet!" Keith was just as frustrated as his father. He'd received top marks for his assignment but couldn't shake the feeling he'd made a mistake. With his father blowing up at him, it really cemented the fact that he had.

"I know how much work you did on that damn project of yers but _dammit_ Keith!" He signed heavily and put his hands on the boy's shoulders. "This was bad. A really, really stupid move on yer part." Keith nodded, he knew that already. "Son, I'm still proud you though; the skill you display as a pilot, and the progress you've made tryna blend in an'all. I know it's not easy, but you can't be doin shit like this boy!"

"I know, I'm sorry. It won't happen again."

"Good. And Keith, I really am proud of you fer how yer doin'. You've adjusted really well."

"Thanks, dad." With a gasp, his father pulled him into a tight hug.

"I know I'm gunna have to say good-bye sooner or later, so I hate havin' to get mad at you. I want to make the most of the limited time I get." There was a slight hitch to his father's voice and he suddenly felt terrible. "And Keith -"

"Yeah?"

"- You gotta include this in yer next report to Kolivan. You know that right?" He winced. Kolivan was going to kill him.


	6. Christmas

**CHRISTMAS**

"Cadet Kogane, take a seat." She motioned to the only other chair in the large office; he sat. "Do you know why I've called you in here?" He shook his head, remaining silent. She stared at him for a moment, one that seemed to stretch into eternity. "What is your relation to former Officer Kolton Kogane?"

"He's my father." Keith maintained his disciplined posture, tone, and expression. This was already starting to feel like an interrogation and Antok had trained him well.

"And you were raised by your mother?"

"Yes Ma'am."

"Where?"

"Denmark."

"Why did you come to the Texas campus of the Galaxy Garrison?"

"To be a pilot, Ma'am."

"Elaborate."

"The Galaxy Garrison is the foremost in Pilot training, and everyone knows the Texas campus offers the best programs. Also, my father lives here and I wanted to get to know him." The Admiral seemed to accept his reasoning, nodding her head slightly, barely perceivable. For the first time since he sat down, she averted her gaze to look at the file that was sitting open on her desk. She picked up a report of some sort, reading it over before sighing, and putting it back. The Admiral closed the file and quickly tapped her index and middle finger on top, looking back to Keith as she did so.

"Do you know why I called you in here?" She repeated.

"No Ma'am."

"You are in Officer Takeshi Shirogane's mentorship program. Is that correct?"

"Yes Ma'am."

"Is there anything worth noting of Officer Shirogane's health, performance, or general wellbeing?" _What? _His face must have betrayed his confusion. The Admiral narrowed her eyes as she watched him closely.

"No Ma'am." He answered after a tick.

"Nothing of note?"

"He is exceptionally gifted. Aside from that, no Ma'am, nothing worth noting."

"Do you feel Officer Shirogane is capable of handling active duty?"

"Yes Ma'am."

"Do you feel Officer Shirogane is responsible and trustworthy?"

"Yes Ma'am."

"Do you feel Officer Shirogane has earned a position with greater responsibility?"

"Yes Ma'am."

"Has Officer Shirogane ever given you reason to doubt his loyalty to the Galaxy Garrison?"

"No Ma'am."

"Has Officer Shirogane ever cancelled a scheduled session due to health concerns?"

"Yes Ma'am."

"Elaborate."

"In November of this year Officer Warren became sick with the flu. Officer Shirogane cancelled our session to remain at home and watch over him."

"Has Officer Shirogane ever cancelled a scheduled session due to health concerns relating to himself?"

"No Ma'am."

"Are you familiar with Professor Samuel Holt?"

"Yes Ma'am."

"Please state your connection to Professor Holt."

"He is a long-time friend of my father."

"Former Officer Kolton Kogane?"

"Yes Ma'am."

"Are you familiar with Cadet Matthew Holt?"

"Yes Ma'am."

"Please state your connection to Cadet Holt."

"He is an acquaintance of mine."

"Would you consider Cadet Holt to be a personal friend?"

"Yes Ma'am."

"Do you feel Cadet Holt is a capable Engineer?"

"Yes Ma'am."

"Do you feel Cadet Holt's age predisposes him to more reckless or juvenile behaviour?"

"No Ma'am."

"Do you feel Cadet Holt has earned a position with greater responsibility?"

"Yes Ma'am.""

"Has Cadet Holt ever given you reason to doubt his loyalty to the Galaxy Garrison?"

"No Ma'am."

"Dismissed."

* * *

Keith sat in his room, thoroughly confused after what seemed like a rather hostile interrogation. He felt as though the Admiral had been trying to intimidate him. Well, she could try all she wanted. Keith had been trained to withstand interrogation from the Druids themselves. Anything this Admiral Sanda threw at him he could handle without breaking a sweat.

The knock at the door pulled him from his thoughts. Nadia wouldn't bother knocking, Hunk and Ina were both away for the Holidays visiting family, and BlueEyes never went out of his way to see him. Plus he was pretty sure BlueEyes was gone too; something about a Cuba or a Club or … he talks a lot and Keith usually tunes him out so who really knows what he was saying. Not Keith, that's for sure.

It was Shiro. He smiled warmly at the man, a little surprised but excited to see his friend and Earth mentor. "I thought you were taking Adam home to Japan for Christmas."

"That was the plan, but my holiday time request was denied. That's actually what I'm here to talk to you about." Keith quirked a brow and spun his desk chair so he could face Shiro as the man took a seat on his bed. "Keith, did Admiral Sanda talk to you?"

"Ya."

"About me?"

"Ya. What's going on?"

"Adam's testimony is not admissible since we're engaged, and you're the only other person I spend a significant amount of time with. You and I aren't related or involved, which makes you the most reliable source."

"Source of what? Shiro?"

"Your testimony about me – that I'm a gifted pilot and that there is otherwise 'nothing of note' – you're testimony is what pushed my application to the top of the pile. I've been accepted as the pilot of the Kerberos mission next fall."

"What? That's amazing! But – I don't understand. How did _my_ testimony do that?" Shiro smiled.

"Keith, you're an incredibly skilled pilot yourself and it's well known amongst the Garrison Senior Command that you're highly observant and brutally honest. So when you vouched for my skills and said there was nothing of note – it had weight."

"Glad to help?" Shiro let out a short chuckled at his confusion. The effect a simple smile had on his face, lighting it up as though the sun were shining through him, made Keith smirk. His smirk didn't last long and the confusion settled back in. He continued to stare before everything settled into place, brows knitting together with the unpleasant realization. "So wait, you're leaving? To go to Kerberos?"

"Yeah, pretty exciting isn't it? I'll be part of an elite team; we're going to travel further than Humanity has ever gone before!" There was a childlike joy creeping across the man's face and it made Keith smile. This was truly the experience of a lifetime for any Human pilot and he was incredibly excited for his friend. "Matt's pretty excited, he's going to be our Engineer for the mission and Sam's going to be our Scientist / cook / adult supervision." Keith chuckled.

"I figured as much, Admiral Sanda mentioned both of them and questioned me on Matt too. But seriously Shiro - Sam Holt? Adult supervision? Yeah right, he's the one that needs to be supervised. I've heard plenty of stories from my dad."

The two laughed for several hours, discussing the logistics of the mission, the excitement of being that far out in space, some of Sam's lesser moments, and Shiro's illness. The last topic left them on a heavier note as the night began to wind down.

"I haven't talked to Adam about this yet. But I don't think he's going to be too happy with how long I'll be gone. We're going to have to postpone the wedding for a year – until after I return."

"Obviously. You cant exactly get married from Kerberos can you?"

Though the man was chuckling, it didn't reach his eyes, and Shiro smiled sadly at him. "No, I don't think that would work." They sat in silence for a minute before the Officer sighed heavily and rose to his feet. "Well, I should probably head home. Are you doing anything thursday night? Why don't you and your dad come over for dinner?"

"You just want backup for when you tell Adam."

"Busted. But really, I want to make sure you two get a proper Christmas dinner. I know Kolt well enough to expect you'll be having BBQ for Christmas if he has his way."

Keith smirked. "I happen to like BBQ."

"Of course you do." With a roll of his eyes Shiro solidified the invitation. "Keith, come to dinner – bring your father and don't be late. I'll text you the details. Okay?"

"Fine. We'll be there."

* * *

Christmas dinner at the Shirogane-Warren home was quite the ordeal. Adam had gone all out, preparing enough food to feed half the Garrison. Their entire apartment was decorated beautifully in red and gold; it looked as though Keith had walked straight into a magazine, with one glaring exception. In the corner, tucked away far from anyone's line of sight, was a small fiber optic tree that blinked with multi-coloured lights and sparkling tinsel. Clearly, the only touch of decoration Shiro had been permitted to contribute. Keith loved it.

The small tree was a maximum of 2 feet tall and 1 foot wide. There was a button on the side that played 'Oh Christmas Tree' on a never-ending loop in what he was now recognizing as Japanese. The twin voices of two young girls filled the room, high pitched and electronic coming from the plastic tree's speakers. It was awful, the speaker was starting to die and the sound quality had clearly been terrible to begin with, but Keith absolutely adored it. He sat cross legged and twirled the tinsel between his fingers, letting the soft material slip through like mercury as he listened to the music. One of the small ornaments fell and he scrambled to collect it, securing the plastic blue ball on one of the available branches before immediately returning to the sparkling tinsel. He was utterly captivated.

"Shiro, your cat is attacking the tree." Adam's exasperated tone made Kolt spit out the beer he'd been sipping. Perking up at his words, Keith immediately started looking for their cat; he liked cats.

"Keith, leave the tinsel alone will ya." Blinking owlishly at his father, realization slowly dawned and he shot a devilish glare in Adam's direction. The bespectacled man merely shrugged his shoulders and brushed it off, returning to his place settings and ensuring every aspect of the room was photoshoot ready.

"Dinner will be done in just over an hour. Do you guys wanna play a game while we wait for the ham? Keith, do you know how to play Euchre?" He stared blankly at Shiro, blinking in confusion and alarm. There was no way he had said what Keith thought he said – right?

"Um, what's Yewkur?" his tone was hesitant; it felt weird to curse so blatantly in front of his father. Sure, he'd said 'quiznak' more times than he can count but that was a Common swear; this was _Galran_. How did Shiro know it? He couldn't right? It was just a coincidence!

"Euchre – it's a card game. You play it in partners. Come on, I'll teach you." Ok so coincidence, but still – each time he heard the name he snickered. The pronunciation was slightly different. Adam had tried for nearly an entire minute to correct him. It was a fruitless effort, Keith couldn't help but pronounce the Galran word and it made the corner of his lips twitch each time. His dad chastised him with just a look; one that said '_you're explaining what's so funny later'_ and Keith nodded back.

Shiro ran through the basics, what the cards meant, the terms used in the game, how to gain points, etc. and Keith thought he had a pretty good grasp of the concept. To avoid any cheating, he'd been paired with Adam while Shiro and his dad were paired together. This was to prevent the engaged couple, or father-son pair, from using a secret code to cheat. Adam had insisted on being Keith's partner, saying he and Shiro were too close for him to trust that this wasn't all a ruse they'd planned in advance. Shiro had shrugged at the suggestion, but Keith's dad backed Adam 100% saying something about peas and pods or what ever.

His dad and Shiro won. They didn't just win; they decimated their competition. Keith had never been a great loser, he was Galra after all and to the Galra losing was the ultimate humiliation_. _He _may_ have whipped the pack of cards at Shiro's head. And Shiro _might_ have a cut right above his eyebrow that may or may not be bleeding slightly. But Keith definitely wasn't sulking, nope. He was merely sitting on the couch, with his arms crossed, wearing a frown and furrowing his brows because he wanted to. It took every ounce of his self-control not to literally hiss at Adam when the man muttered under his breath about Keith being petulant. Instead, he'd stuck out his tongue.

"Mature. That's really helping your cause." Adam scoffed, rolling his eyes in the most 'holier than thou' way imaginable. For such a reserved man he sure was bursting with sass. Keith rolled his eyes right back.

About 15 minutes before dinner was ready, there was a knock at the door and the entirety of the Holt family came flying in. They rushed through introductions before the eight of them sat down to eat. Sam's wife, Colleen, had brought a casserole that smelt absolutely amazing but looked like total crap. Keith's mouth started watering the moment she'd taken off the cover but his stomach turned when he caught sight of the pale yellow gloop with green spots.

"It's Colleens famous curry casserole! With broccoli and peas. Give it a try – you'll love it!" Sam had said as he shoveled a heaping spoonful onto Keith's plate. The boy inspected it; turned it over with his fork, found zero traces of meat and therefore found zero interest in the dish. Keith swiftly switched plates with his father who had not yet been served. There were some snickers from the Holt kids and Shiro, looks of shock from Colleen and Adam, as well as smirks from his dad and Sam.

Adam opened a two bottles of wine, pouring Shiro and Sam glasses of the white, while giving himself and Colleen the red. Kolt reached for another beer; tossing one to Matt with a wink but Keith and Katie were stuck drinking apple juice. Dinner went well, everything had been incredibly delicious and he'd gotten away with eating mostly meat, only receiving a single smack to the head when he turned up his nose at the long green spears of asparagus. Katie had given him a sympathetic look, understanding his plight since her mother had already scolded her for picking out the peas from her casserole.

After dinner was finished Sam, Colleen, and his dad offered to clean up while Matt helped Shiro with something in the spare room. Adam milled about, fussing over his decorations and scowling at Shiro's tree each time he passed it. It didn't take long before Keith found himself sitting on the couch beside Katie, the young girl paying him no mind as she pulled out her laptop and began feverishly typing away. Suddenly there was a loud "WHAT THE HELL!" echoed from the other room, accompanied by a wicked grin spreading over Katie's face. Keith eyed her suspiciously.

Matt came flying around the corner, laptop in hand, stopping just shy of the coffee table to yell a string of incoherent tech babble and curses at Katie. The not-so-innocent girl smiled unabashedly at her brother, feigning ignorance of the situation at hand.

"Pidge you little twerp. Unlock it! NOW!"

"DON'T CALL ME PIDGE. And no! If you can't bypass my protocols then you clearly aren't qualified to manage an entire ship!"

"What the hell you evil little gremlin. Unlock it!"

"NO."

"DAD! Pidge locked - "

"DON'T CALL ME PIDGE"

_"- _my laptop and encrypted all of my assignments!"

"Katie, release your brother's laptop and school work. Matt, she has a point son." Keith watched as she laughed maniacally and Matt muttered about betrayals.

"Ok fine, Matt is a dipshit." She smiled broadly.

"Dad!"

"What? That's the passphrase, just try it!" There was a moment of relative silence as he typed only to let out a loud groan.

"What. Did you do. To my files!"

"Oh that? Ya – enjoy! Pro-tip: Make frequent backups." This went back and forth for quite some time. Neither one proving to be mature in the least, in fact, Keith was starting to regret his agreement that Matt could handle a mission to Kerberos. He couldn't even handle his sister. Granted, she seemed pretty devious.

Keith liked her. He liked her a lot.

As the night slowly wound down everyone gathered in the living room to continue their drinks, conversations, and general merriment. Keith had been completely taken aback by the sudden gift exchange, his eyes shooting wide when Matt passed him a gift. He'd sat there in shock for a good few tick before looking over to his father for confirmation. As it turned out, Human's gave gifts for holidays and special occasions, while the Galra gave gifts strictly as a form of courtship. Never in his life had he ever received a delicately wrapped package before and he had to stomp down the flutter in his chest as he opened what Matt had passed him. Reminding himself over and over, that it was a platonic gesture.

He'd nearly choked. The gift was from the entire Holt family, but clearly Sam had played a heavy hand in choosing his. It was a T-shirt and each of them had received one similar, all 8 of them. His was a solid black T with a faded grey Roswell Alien head and the words 'Area 51 Escapee' below it in the same faded grey. Keith stared for a moment and looked up to meet Sam's eyes, there was a knowing twinkle in them and he subtly winked as Matt burst out laughing.

"OH shit, that one's great! Check out mine!" He lifted the lid of his gift box to reveal a white T-Shirt depicting a stereotypical flying saucer and the words 'Pick Me!' underneath. Keith snorted. Katie's shirt was Green with a white UFO and text that read 'Get In Loser' in large white letters, while Colleen and Sam both had Black shirts saying 'I believe' under the same green alien head.

Adam's shirt was a soft beige colour, the words 'Allergic to Humans' plastered across the chest and it looked really good against his lightly tanned skin tone. Shiro's was another black one, and like Adam's, it was strictly text. A large 'I'm not saying it was Aliens … but it was totally Aliens!' taking up the entirety of the shirt in a bright grey lettering, instead of a faded grey like Keith's. Last but not least was his dad. His shirt was a stone grey colour with the words 'Been There, Probed That' displayed prominently in bright purple. He'd snorted so hard beer had come out his nose and he'd needed to excuse himself. Keith rolled his eyes and shot Sam a 'look'. He knew what he was doing and Keith was not above calling him out for it.

Following his dad to the kitchen, he pulled out his Garrison Data Pad. "Dad! Picture for mom?" He asked with a smirk as they both put on their shirts. Keith snapped the photo, making sure the graphic T's were clearly displayed, and saved it. When he got back to the cabin he would send it off to Krolia.

They played a few more games of Euchre, the winning teams facing off against each other to crown Matt & Katie the reigning champs. Eventually, the group disbanded once again. Matt and Shiro found their way back to their previous project, Katie curled up on large reclining chair with her laptop, Adam and Colleen discussed home décor and wine parings, Sam and Kolt laughed over the T-shirts and polished off the rest of the beer, while Keith sat back and watched them.

After a while he got bored of Human watching and pulled out his Garrison issue Data Pad once again to get started on their latest assigned reading project. Over the Christmas break his class was expected to read the entirety of '2001 A Space Odyssey' then write an essay comparing the imagined life in space vs the reality of it. Unfortunately it was the reality of life on one of the Garrison' many space stations, not Keith's reality, which meant he had his work cut out for him. All of this was due on the first day back to class. Naturally, Keith hadn't started.

He'd made a terrible mistake in his last report to Kolivan. He'd discussed the basic events of the past movement (nothing even remotely entertaining), was questioned heavily regarding his previous blunder and if it had come back to him yet (it hadn't, thank the Ancients!), and how his studies with Ms. Proxa were coming along (decently, though Altean was difficult to pronounce). Keith had let slip that he would have more time to work on his Altean Diplomacy project due to the Garrison nearly shutting down for a major Earth holiday. It wasn't long before he'd received a slew of additional work from Ms. Proxa to complete on his 'down time' – never mind that he had his Garrison homework to do!

Keith groaned and clicked on the book, opening up the first chapter. He'd managed to make it through to the start of chapter 2 when a blood-curdling shriek sounded from the other chair and all eyes immediately looked in Katie's direction. All eyes except Keith's, he looked at the culprit and found Matt giggling to himself over his laptop.

"WHAT? MAAAAAATT!" The giggling exploded into a full belly laugh and Matt nearly fell out of his chair.

"What did you do?"

"Nothing Dad! I swear to god. She did it to herself!"

"Matt you are so dead! Gone, all of it gone!"

"What's gone Katie?" Colleen had rushed into the room in a panic, clearly expecting to see blood or the gruesome remains of one of her children.

"My entire entry project for the Garrison's Engineering program! It's completely gone! I have to start from scratch! I'M GOING TO FUCKING KILL YOU MATT!"

"Language young lady!" Colleen scolded her daughter and for the first time, Keith saw why Matt called her a gremlin. She was small but ferocious, her slight frame shaking with rage as she struggled to contain herself. He didn't doubt Matt was as good as dead the moment they left Adam & Shiro's apartment. "Matthew, did you delete the project your sister has been working on for nearly 3 months?"

"NO! I swear. All I did was setup a Trojan so that if she hacked into my computer again and opened the program, it would write over whatever files she had open. I figured it would just be her game scores or something."

Katie held up her laptop, showing the absolute gibberish that had replaced her project. "Does this look funny to you? 3 months Matt! 3 Months of work and now I have to start all over with only **2** months left till the application deadline."

"I'm sorry! It's kinda your own fault though."

"Matthew!"

"Sorry mom. Katie, I can help you re do the work if you want. With both of us it should go faster." Keith listened as she grumbled under her breath about him being too busy with prepping for Kerberos to help her while glancing up to meet his eyes with that devious smile he'd come to associate with her. He had known Katie for all of one evening and he'd already decided _never_ to get on her bad side.

Colleen had doled out a punishment for Matt, it was severe, and Katie had taken great pleasure in it. Keith was nearly finished the 3rd chapter of his book when he felt a small poke at his side. Turning, he was face to face with the gremlin herself.

"Wanna hear something funny?"

"Uh, sure?"

"I have a full backup of the project on my external hard drive at home." He stared at her in shock, and the corner of his lips twitched up into a grin.

"Oh, that's evil."

"I know." Her head tilted to the side and she did her very best impression of 'innocent' – something she was definitely not. "Serves him right, ditching me to go to Kerberos for a whole year. This is big for him, and it's my job as his little sister to make sure his head still fits inside the ship when it's time to go."

Keith snickered. Yup, he liked her.

**Author's Note:**

I couldn't find a way to squeeze in the meaning of 'Yewkur' while maintaining the natural flow of the story so here you go. Hopefully this explains why Keith felt weird saying it so casually in front of his dad.

Keith's Foul Mouth Dictionary:  
• Yewkur (Galran) = Slut / Whore  
• Quiznak (Common: Taken from Altean) = Fuck

This will update as the fic progresses.


	7. Kerberos

**KERBEROS**

The Kerberos launch was coming up; only one more month to go. Matt had officially graduated from the Galaxy Garrison with top marks, one of the best Engineers to ever come out of the Texas campus. He was now 'Officer Holt', which Keith sometimes found himself tripping over. For almost a year Matt had been one of Keith's only male friends. Actually, aside from Hunk, Matt _was_ his only male friend. Shiro didn't count – Shiro was a mentor and a brother figure. Adam didn't much care for him, James was a dick, BlueEyes was still clinging to the rivalry he'd made up, James was a dick, Kinkade was friends with James, James was a dick, Meijer was kinda weird (and that was coming from an actual alien), and James was a dick. All of this made Matt and Hunk his only guy friends.

Huh, now that he thought about it, he didn't really have that many friends in general. Nadia, Ina, and Katie were about the only real girl friends he had. With Hunk and Matt it brought the grand total up to 5. But as his father said – quality over quantity, and Keith loved his friends. They were all great in their own ways.

He hadn't seen much of Matt lately though, Katie complained about it sometimes, and his girlfriend Beth dumped him because of it, but Matt didn't seem too heartbroken. Keith and Katie had gotten closer, talking on a regular basis via text and hanging out occasionally at the Holt's house with Matt. It had taken him ages to understand her messages, Matt had even written out a 'Pidge to English' dictionary to help him decode each message. Why the words to/too/two had to be replaced by the number was beyond him. But at least that was understandable! The word 'l8r' had literally taken him 15 dobashes to decode, and in the end he'd asked Nadia for help.

They were planning a good-bye party for Matt and Shiro. Originally Keith was in charge of absolutely nothing because according to Katie he's '_a socially oblivious idiot'_. Which was fair. But Keith had appealed to her more devious side and walked away with decorations. He was terrible at decorating, and colour coordinating, and everything involved in that department. But BlueEyes was excellent at it, and loved it, and for some reason Keith really wanted to impress him. Maybe it was because he felt bad for constantly one-upping the guy, or perhaps it was because he wanted to prove he could handle _some _responsibility, or maybe it was because Lance had this gorgeously radiant smile that made his eyes sparkle. Who's to say?

BlueEyes had been passed over for every single one of the Garrison's LGBTQ+ Club's events. He'd applied to be on the decorating committee each time, and each time it was the same 4 people that ran the show. Lance had grumbled about it being too 'cliquey' and was starting to become disheartened; Keith hated to see the light dimming in his star. So when he begged, pleaded, and bartered with Katie to win the roll of decorator, it was with the sole intention of asking BlueEyes to help.

"Oh, hey Keith!" Hunk's warmth radiated off him, spilling out of their dorm room and enveloping Keith in a blanket of heartfelt welcomes.

"Is that Mullet? We don't want whatever he's selling!" Lance's voice carried through the door and Keith rolled his eyes.

"Ignore him! What can I help ya with buddy?"

"Actually - I'm here to see Lance." Hunk froze, his eyes shooting wide before an absolutely massive grin spread across his face and Keith blushed, deeply.

"WHAT? Tell Mullet I'm not here."

"I can literally hear you Lance!"

"Leave your message at the tone: _BEEP!_" Keith laughed, but decided to play along.

"Yes, hello Lance? This is Keith. I could use your help decorating for Matt and Shiro's going away party! Call be back when you get his message. Click." He winked at Hunk who was giggling uncontrollably, and walked away.

Closing the door of his own room, Keith slid down and grasped his chest. That had been fun, nerve wracking – but fun! He'd never blatantly flirted like that, little suggestive lines here and there to Sergin and Plak, but never quite like this. His heart was racing.

The knock on the door seemed to pound in time with his heartbeat and it took him a moment to realize it had been real. Rising to his feet, and quickly checking to make sure he didn't look as insane as he felt, he opened to door. Standing on the other side was Lance, an excited glimmer in his eyes and a craft book in his hand.

"Oh hey Lance, what brings you here?" Keith gave a wry smile and leaned his weight onto the door frame, his left arm tucked behind his head and his right outstretched, holding the door open just wide enough for his body to fill the gap. Lance's eyes widened briefly and it sent a thrill through Keith, tingling up his spine and validating his efforts. But shock soon morphed into suspicion and Lance narrowed his eyes.

"Were you serious? Do you really need my help?" There was a hint of self-consciousness to his tone. Keith could exploit it, but that would be counter-productive. Instead he doubled down on the smooth guy image he was going for, maybe even toss a subtle compliment the other's way.

"No, I could probably figure something out myself, but it wouldn't be nearly as good as what you could do. I don't_ need_ your help Lance, I _want_ your help." There was a pause; a moment of silence where Keith thought he'd lost him. This was it, BlueEyes was going to storm off and that would be that.

"Cool. I have some ideas already! Can I come in?" Keith nodded, smiling as he stepped aside, letting Lance into his room for the first time since he'd known the guy. His heart and stomach did a weird flippy thing and he felt himself blush. Thank the Ancients he kept his room pretty dark.

"Dude, why's it so dark in here? Are you a vampire or are you trying to seduce me?" This time it was Keith's turn to freeze at the quick remark. He stood stock still for so long that Lance burst out laughing. "Relax, I'm only kidding. _Dios Mio_, your face Mullet! _Eres lindo!_" Keith had no idea what he said, but it sounded nice so he smiled.

During a particularly uneventful study session, Hunk had taught him how to say a few words in Lance's native Spanish. Mostly they'd laughed about how terrible Keith's pronunciation, but he had managed to retain some of the impromptu lesson. Armed with this knowledge, he confidently replied with "Grasses".

The Cuban blinked a few times, processing the fact that Keith had expertly spoken the Spanish word for 'thank you' before exploding into laughter, falling to the floor and supporting himself on the edge of Keith's bed. "Grasses?" He gasped, his lungs straining to take in air through his fits of laughter. Keith crossed his arms and rolled his eyes, watching as Lance's whole body convulsed. Another dobash went by before the boy was able to regain his faculties and take a proper breath. "OH Gawd! Grasses. Oh shit Mullet, that was hilarious." There were tears in the corner of his eyes and, though Keith was mildly offended, he couldn't help the smile that crept up on him.

"Ok ok, so I suck at Spanish. Can we focus please?"

"Yeah! Sorry just – oh _man_ that was good." Keith rolled his eyes and took a seat on his desk chair, facing the opposite way so he could lean his chest against the backrest, arms folded across the top.

Lance looked around the room awkwardly for a brief moment before settling on the edge of Keith's bed. It never seemed weird when Shiro did it, but for some reason it felt far more intimate to have _Lance_ sitting on his bed. He quickly brushed that train of thought aside, he did _not_ like Lance; sure the guy was attractive, but he was also incredibly annoying and a pain in the ass.

Said pain in the ass was now looking at him expectantly. "What?"

"I _said_ – what is the theme for the party?"

"Going away?" Keith answered as he quirked his brow. Lance looked at him completely dumbfounded, a deer with head lights ... was that how it went?

"Wow, you really do need my help." Keith rolled his eyes.

* * *

As expected, Lance had done an amazing job. The theme he chose wasn't very original but it was perfect; Space. Everything was varying shades of blue, purple, and pink set on black backgrounds. The tablecloth, cups, plates, and decorations all had a generic 'galaxy pattern on them and Lance had even found star shaped balloons that glowed. There was a massive cake shaped like the ship Sam Holt had built complete with a Galaxy Garrison logo on the side and a table dedicated to 3 different types of punch. It was truly impressive.

The pièce de résistance, according to Lance, was a giant banner depicting all three Kerberos team members in full Garrison fight suits standing before the finished ship. Lance had taken the time to create the graphic himself, editing in a silhouette of Kerberos in the background. Keith had been blown away at its reveal and Lance beamed with pride.

The party raged for hours as Cadets and Officers alike became increasingly more intoxicated. The punch started out as merely sparkly juice but at some point it had been spiked with what he learned was 'Rum', an Earth equivalent to nunvil though not as strong. After those 2 beers he'd consumed with his father, Keith now knew he couldn't handle alcohol very well, so he'd avoided the punch like the plague. Lance on the other hand; he was loaded! So was Hunk, but it was Lance that had decided to drape himself all over any pretty face that looked his way. Keith was becoming slightly annoyed at the display when he felt an arm wrap around him. Tensing, he resisted the urge to flip the would-be assailant over his shoulder, and instead turned to greet an incredibly wasted Matt.

"Wow, I can smell the booze coming off you. Have much did you drink?"

"Still standing – so not enough." he said with a wink. "I like you Keith! You're kinda weird, but I dig it!" The Holt boy nudged his shoulder with the plastic cup of punch and it sloshed over the rim, coating his shoulder. "OH SHIT! Sorry dude!"

"It's fine. Having a good time?"

"THE BEST! Omg, I don't know how you did it but DAMN Keith! This party is great." Matt hiccuped and blushed.

"It was mostly Katie and Lance. Actually, all I did was secure permission to use this room from senior command. Oh, and I helped Lance put all the decorations up this afternoon - but he picked everything out." Matt stared at him for waaaay too long before grinning. Keith rolled his eyes.

"Hey - I have something for you. I know you're all *hiccup* weird about presents, but you'll get over it." He shrugged and motioned for Keith to follow him. Reluctantly, he did.

They walked out of the party and down the hall towards the dorm rooms, Matt stumbling slightly as he went. Keith reached out to catch him a few times but for the most part the now-Officer managed to stay on his feet. After a short elevator ride and a few more turns, they made it to Matt's room. The intoxicated boy struggled with the scanner, his hand slipping from the pad as he tried to maintain his balance. Keith grabbed him by the wrist and held it in place long enough for the door to open.

Inside, the room was a mess. Actually, 'mess' was far too lenient a term for the disaster zone that was Matt's dorm room. There were articles of clothing strewn across every piece of furniture, science experiments sitting open on his desk, an array of various pieces of tech equipment scattered across the floor and bed, as well as papers covering all available (and not available) surfaces. Keith's eyes bugged out of his head; it appeared to him as though a wild Ardry had been let loose in here.

Matt tripped and stumbled about his warzone of a room, crawling over piles of crap in his quest to find … something. Eventually he found it, letting out an excited squawk accompanied by a series of hiccups, and pulled Keith over to the bed.

"Ok, so as my going away present to you, I want you to have this!" In his hands was a very worn, very dirty, formerly white T-shirt with a UFO and the words 'Pick Me!'.

"You're Christmas shirt?"

"Yeah! I thought you might like it. You seemed to *hiccup* get a kick out of them." Keith rolled his eyes but laughed.

"Gee thanks Matt. How ever will I show my gratitude." Matt's face suddenly lost all humour. He stared Keith straight in the eyes, a solemn intensity taking over and momentarily sharpening the haze of his intoxicated state.

"Watch out for Katie. I mean it Keith, please. With dad and I both gone, someone needs to keep an eye on her. That girl *hiccup* has a habit of getting herself into risky situations and usually I *hiccup* have to do a bunch of string pulling and finagly – fingling – FINAGLING, to save her butt."

He stared at Matt, the older boy looked genuinely worried. "She's a lot more capable than you give her credit for, but sure – I'll watch her back."

Matt nodded, almost loosing his balance and falling over in the process. "Cool, thanks. You're a friend! I mean – you're a _good _friend. Let's just get back – I'm not done drinking!" Keith rolled his eyes, but helped to guide his friend back to the party, a happy grin on his face and a disgusting T-shirt in his hand.

* * *

"Hey Loser!"

"Hey Pidge."

"DON'T CALL ME PIDGE! I'm going to kill Matt for teaching you that!" Keith snickered as the tiny but ferocious ball of dirty blonde hair and stubby limbs ran from her room screaming at her brother. He was still snickering when her face popped back into frame a minute later.

"Matt survive?"

"No. Funeral is this Saturday." He belted out a short laugh at her deadpan delivery. "Guess what."

"What?"

"I got into the Garrison." The accompanying smile split her face in two and she beamed with pride. The entirety of the Holt family was now associated with the Galaxy Garrison in some way, a legacy of brilliant scientists.

"I'd more surprised if you _didn't_ get into the Garrison." She scowled at him. "But, good job Katie."

"Hm thanks. Some friend you are!"

"You love me. When is orientation? Need a tour guide?"

"Actually yeah. I'd rather have you show me around than some snooty airhead student council princess."

"Wasn't Matt on student council?"

"I stand by my statement." They chuckled together but it wasn't long before her face fell slightly, and if he hadn't been paying attention he might have missed the split second of sadness in her eyes. "Orientation isn't until after the Kerberos launch. So Matt won't be there when I go."

"I will." A devilish smirk replaced her sadness and Keith internally winced.

"I know. I have plans for you."

"Ominous."

"No Matt – you're the only other person I know."

"Does that make me your pseudo big brother?"

"It makes you my substitute victim." _Quiznak._

* * *

They stood on the launch pad. It was a bright, sunny day but that was to be expected. They were in the Texas desert after all. Keith stood with his dad near one of the large engines of the ship, off to the side were Colleen and Katie. Adam was talking to Commander Iverson, Admiral Sanda, and a few other higher-ups that Keith didn't recognize. They were standing nearby and if he really wanted to he could focus on their conversation and listen in, but at this moment his attention was on the doors of the Galaxy Garrison. There were reporters everywhere. So many of them that Keith was practically cowering in his father's shadow to avoid being seen. He didn't want to draw any attention to himself.

But his efforts had been in vain. A reporter had made her way over to Katie and Colleen a few minutes early. She'd excitedly interviewed the wife and daughter of famed scientist Samuel Holt, rambling on about how thrilling it must be for them to have not only Sam, but also Matt leaving on the mission. Colleen had done her best to be diplomatic, answering questions and staying generally positive. Katie had scowled at the woman, shooting daggers of hate with her eyes each time the questions fell to her. Keith could see the anger and sadness bubbling under the surface. No matter what she said, now matter how tough she acted, she was going to miss them.

The reporter finished with the Holts and was now making her way over to Keith and his dad. He panicked.

"S'fine son. Just keep yer mouth shut if you don't wanna talk to her." He nodded but continued to slink further into the shadows. _Stars, _he wished he had his Blade armour and could just vanish.

"Hello! I'm Rachel Mendez with 'Star' Magazine. What is your connection to the Kerberos team?" Her cameraman came bouncing up behind her and she thrust the microphone into his dad's face, barely bothering with pleasantries. Taking a step back to create bit of personal space, he indulged the pushy reporter.

"Name's Kolt. Been a long time friend of Sam fer – oh hell, I'd say prit' near 30 years. Known lil' Matt since he was in diapers. Good people those Holts, smart as whips too."

"And what of the pilot? Captain Takeshi Shirogane?"

"Don't know him as well as Sammy, but he's a damn good pilot. Fella went and beat every record the Garrison had."

"And what can you tell us about this alleged 'disease' of his? Will it affect his abilities as the Captain of this mission? Rumour has it the entire situation has caused a split between Captain Shirogane and his fiancé Officer Warren. Can you confirm these allegations?"

"Lady, yer askin' some real personal questions. You'd best talk to Officer Warren yerself if you want any answers. Ain't no one here gunna tell you bout this." And just like that he gave a curt nod and turned away from her, effectively ending the interview. She'd huffed in annoyance but ultimately walked away. "Damn reporters 'er like vultures!"

It took another 45 minutes before the large bay doors of the Garrison opened up and the fully suited crew marched out, Shiro at the head flanked by both Holts on either side. A series of promotional photos were taken, each posing individually with the ship and a few team shots. The photographer took some pictures of each crewmember with their families then high command, as well as one large group photo that Keith noticed the sneaky reporter had managed to include herself in.

He'd purposefully closed his eyes for each photo knowing full well how the membrane in his eyes reflected light. It may not be noticeable in the daytime, but a camera lens would certainly pick it up. He had a few pairs of contacts he could wear but they made his eyes itchy and hindered his vision, so he mostly saved them for emergencies. Which this was not.

Keith took a picture with Shiro, and one with Matt, and one with Shiro & Matt before leaving them to stand with his father again. Adam was crying, Colleen was crying, Katie was sneaking something into Matt's pocket that looked suspiciously like a cookie. The two siblings were standing off to the side talking, keeping their voices low and Keith focused on the faint sounds that none of the nearby Humans would be able to pickup.

"- what the Garrison doesn't know." They chuckled together and Matt tapped his suit pocket with a wink. "Hey, check this out." He removed his glasses, placing them in his sister's open palm and smiling broadly.

"Don't you need these?"

"Not anymore! The Garrison fixed my eyes. I look _way_ cooler now, yeah?" Keith snorted as Matt struck a pose, index finger to his brow with closed eyes and downward tilted head. _Loser_. He thought fondly.

"Nooo." Katie objected and he snorted again.

Nudging her shoulder slightly, Matt teased that he'd be back soon and Katie returned the shove, knocking him over from the force of it. "You better, or I'm coming up to space and getting you."

Keith didn't doubt she'd find a way.

* * *

_The Galaxy Garrison mission to the distant moon of Kerberos is missing, and all crewmembers are believed to be dead. The Galaxy Garrison has said the crash was presumably caused by pilot error. It is, indeed, a sad day for all Humanity._


	8. Discoveries

Keith stared up at the ceiling, lying on the bed of his dark empty dorm room. { "_Kerberos crew members dead … Pilot error." }_ It had been weeks since the crash, but the news was still on every station, every report, every 'weekend update', every morning talk show – everywhere; inescapable and unavoidable. Shiro's face plastered across the screens with the words 'Pilot Error' in large text. Adam was a mess; The Garrison was placing full responsibility for the mission's failure on Shiro. A dead man can't defend himself after all. Colleen was wearing a brave face for Katie's sake, dealing with the onslaught of emotionally void reporters harassing her with questions designed to get a reaction. Katie was angry. She was adamant that the Garrison was withholding information and she was determined to prove it. Keith was lost.

Matt had been his best friend. He'd been the first Human around his age that he'd met, and the first Human he'd befriended. Sure Sam had been nice, but Sam also knew that Keith was an alien and took some of his more unique quirks in stride. Matt had just accepted Keith as being a little weird and hung out with him despite that. Now he was just – gone. A part of Keith blamed himself. He'd confirmed that Matt was ready for a mission like this and maybe if he'd kept his mouth shut then Matt would still be here. But someone else would have taken his place and _they_ would be dead.

Sam was on that mission. The Holts had lost two family members and Keith's heart broke for them. He'd seen countless Blades leave for missions only for the crew to return with fewer members, or not return at all. He was used to it. This was the price you payed, the risk you took, when you accepted a mission; except the Humans weren't fighting in a 10,000 year old war across the Universe. They were merely flying to a moon in their own system to gather ice samples, they should have been fine. The mission shouldn't have failed; they should have been safe.

His dad was hurting. Sam's death was taking its toll on him. The past 4 times Keith went to the cabin his dad had been drunk, looking at old photos of him and Sam back in their Garrison days, with a bottle in his hand or sitting empty on the couch beside him. Keith had had to put the man to bed a couple of times, and once he'd decided to just tuck him in on the couch with a bucket next to his head. It was rough seeing the man in such dire straits. Colleen had popped over a few times with casseroles, taking care of him and offering to let him stay with her and Katie. He'd refused each time, opting to stay in his desert cabin.

Keith found himself going home to visit his dad every weekend. He'd get out of class and take a hover bike out to the cabin to stay for a few days. Those were usually the only days his dad didn't drink and on one occasion he overheard something he wished he hadn't, something that explained so much and yet ripped his heart out.

It was a Friday afternoon. Keith had just gotten out of class, signed out a hover bike, and arrived at the cabin in time for dinner. Once again, dinner was a casserole from Colleen. Kolt was sitting on the couch, slumped down with his head resting on the back, one foot firmly on the ground and the other propped up on the coffee table. He had a bottle of Southern Comfort in his hand, supported by the raised leg, and his other was holding the picture Keith had drawn when he was three. He'd walked in and greeted his dad, heading straight for the kitchen to preheat the oven. In truly abysmal Galran his father had replied with '_I hate space' _and it'd taken a moment for him to fully process the situation.

"Why?" He finally asked, switching them back to English.

"Yer mamma left fer space and never came back, Sam left fer space and now he ain't never comin' back, and I know when you leave – you ain't comin' back either." There was a long pause; Keith hadn't known what to say. His dad was most likely right; he probably wouldn't be back to Earth ever again. He didn't know whether he should lie and try to console the grieving man, or just admit it was true and sit in awkward silence. "I don't want you to go back. I've lost everyone I care 'bout to FUCKING space - I don't wanna lose you again."

Keith slumped down on the couch beside him, a lump forming in his throat. "You're not gunna lose me. I have to go, I have a mission I need to finish, but I promise you I'll be back. It may not be for a while, but I'll comeback dad."

They'd stared at each other, Keith meaning every word. He'd find a way, he'd come back to visit his dad and he'd bring his mother with him. He vowed to himself right then and there that this would _not_ be the end of their relationship. He would find a way to see his father again after this mission was over. "You better son." They'd hugged it out, Kolt breaking down into Keith's shoulder. And as they'd eaten their dinner, Keith asked to hear the stories. It had been a long weekend, one that left his dad feeling substantially better by the end. He'd gone back to work after that, returning to the fire hall and picking himself up. The liquor cabinet remained empty; Kolt not wanting to restock it.

Now it was his turn to fall apart. He'd grieved Matt, he'd been sad for the death of Sam, but he'd finally started to process the loss of Shiro. He'd been close to Matt, the guy was his best friend, but Shiro; Shiro was a different thing altogether. A friend, a mentor, a brother figure. The more he thought about it, the harder it was to process. Shiro was gone, _gone; n_ever coming back. It didn't sit right with him. Something deep inside, some part of him that he'd listened to on countless occasions, was speaking up and telling him that this wasn't right. But that was a stage of grief wasn't it? Denial. Keith closed his eyes and a flood of painful memories came back to him, supplied by his very unhelpful subconscious.

Suddenly he was flying through the Texas desert on a Garrison issue hover bike, dust cutting into his cheeks as he tried to keep up with Shiro but the older man had him beat. Keith could out fly anyone in a ship but he'd never flown one of these before and the controls were so different from anything he was used to. He sighed as Shiro whipped the bike around, changing course on a dime and flying straight past Keith, the wind carrying his laughter as he went. They'd flown around all afternoon before heading back to the base and grabbing a bite to eat from the cafeteria. He'd begged his dad to teach him some tricks so that the next time Shiro suggested hover bike races, he'd be prepared. These were some of his best memories of Earth, flying around the desert with his dad or with Shiro, the wind whipping through his hair, the hot sun baking down on his skin. They'd stop in one of the outcroppings to sit in shade and eat a picnic style lunch before heading back out again. His dad would pack sandwiches, jerky, and chips but Shiro always packed a substantially healthier lunch, complaining that Keith never ate enough veggies. There was a reason for that, but he couldn't exactly explain himself. Sometimes, when he'd be out there with his dad, Keith would catch a lizard to eat or if he was lucky he'd snag a hare; never with Shiro though.

He rolled over on his bed as he heard the *ding* of his phone. Glancing over, he reached out to grab it off the nightstand where it'd been charging.

{ Hey loser } He smiled; it'd been a while since he'd heard from Katie and any signs of life was a good sign.

{ Hey Pidge }

{ Meet me the diner in 1 hr }

{ Which one? }

{ The good 1 }  
{ Obvi }  
{ Don't B L8 }

{ Rosie's? }

{ Duh } putting the phone down he sighed and got up to shower for the first time that day.

* * *

Rosie's Diner was packed as usual. He'd managed to sign out a hover bike on the premise of going to see his dad. Parking the bike he felt a fresh wave of memories hit him, threatening to knock him over. This was the first place his dad had taken him after he'd arrived on Earth. They'd had breakfast here together that first day and it had become their 'spot'. Shiro had taken him here for his birthday, buying him 2 orders of pancakes with 3 orders of bacon on the side and all the coffee he could drink. They'd sat for almost 2 hours eating their breakfasts and the waitress had put a smiley face on his pancakes with whipped cream. He'd come back that night with his dad for Rosie's famous meatloaf and they'd gotten the same waitress. She made a smiley face out of his mashed potatoes and threw in a free slice of pumpkin pie which his dad ended up eating most of.

A hard knock on the window of the diner pulled him from memory lane and he looked up to see Katie waving at him from inside. He half-heartedly smiled at her and pocketed the keys to the bike, walking into the Diner to join her in the booth. She ordered a strawberry milkshake and the waitress brought it over with two straws, setting it down in the middle of the table and winking at them as she walked away. Keith furrowed his brow and scowled after her as Katie made a not-so-subtle gagging sound and she pulled the glass to her side. When the waitress came back to check on them, Keith ordered a coffee and the potpie special, while Katie ordered a cheese burger and onion rings – no pickles, extra cheese, add hot peppers. The waitress didn't write it down and the small girl glared angrily at her as she walked away, mumbling about heads rolling if her burger was wrong. It was Keith's eyes that rolled.

Their food came (her burger was just fine), and they took a few bites before Katie got down to business. "I want to show you something." He nodded and she pulled out her tablet, opening up a video, there was no accompanying sound which made watching it in a public place much easier. It was a video feed taken from the Kerberos ship. You could clearly see the crew working on the surface of the icy moon, the edge of the ship, the ship's full shadow, and a whole bunch of empty space. The video footage wasn't the best quality, and he suspected it wasn't the original copy. "See that shadow in the background?" He nodded "That's not from our ship 'cause it's off to the bottom right and the shadows don't line up. Also check this out -" she slowed the frame-rate of the video and for a brief second, a mere 2 frames, there was a flash of purple light. "- what do you suppose this is? Weird, huh?"

He wrenched the tablet from her small hands, nearly pulling her across the table in the process. "Where did you get this footage?" He breathed, frantically replaying the clip over and over.

"I may have hacked into the Garrison's systems and I _may_ have accessed secured documents that were sealed with a clearance level higher than even Commander Iverson has." He stared at her and blinked. _So that's why she'd been so quiet lately. _"Keith, I don't think this was pilot error, that explanation never sat well with me and now I see this. I just – I think the Garrison's covering up something big." His gut screamed at him that she was right, that it had been trying to tell him this all along.

"Like what Katie?"

"I – I don't know. But I _do_ know that whatever caused that purple light; it wasn't anything the Garrison created."

"We need more information, more proof."

"So you believe me?" Her whole face lit up and he nodded. His gut had been right; something was definitely 'off' about this whole thing.

* * *

He crept down the hall, checking to ensure no one was around before he opened the office door. The small fridge, allowed only to the offices of the senior command, was located in a corner with a doily and green plant sitting on top of it. He opened the tiny fridge door, pulling out a strawberry apple sauce jar and mixing in one of his diffry berry tubes. Mixing the contents thoroughly, he tightened the lid and placed the jar back in the fridge, closed the door, and slipped back into the hall. Katie lurked in the common room around the corner and he made his way to join her.

It didn't take long; maybe an hour or two before Commander Iverson ran from his office grabbing at his throat as he rushed to the nurses station. "Go now." Keith whispered to her and Katie packed up her laptop, quietly slipping out of the room. He stood guard, watching the hall to ensure no one came to Iverson's office while she was in there. He didn't know how much time the allergic reaction would buy them but it wouldn't be much.

10 minutes later he heard the boot falls of someone's approach and messaged Katie to hurry up. He'd stall but he didn't know how well he could do so. The person came closer and he realized too late that it was Iverson himself, sending an emergency abort message to Katie just in time for the Commander to notice him.

"What are you doing out here Cadet?" He took a deep breath and repeated the lines he'd been practicing; drawing on his Blade training to _hopefully_ fool the surly man.

"I came to speak with you Commander. You weren't in your office so I waited here for you to return sir."

"What do you need Kogane?"

"Sir, I was wondering if I could have a slip with standing authorization from you to sign out a hover bike on weekends to visit my dad."

"No. Submit a request per use like all the other Cadets." Without even giving him the chance to speak again, Iverson stormed past and Keith whirled around to follow.

He ultimately failed in stalling his target and Katie was busted. The Commander dragged her down the hall as she yelled about Kerberos and her family, fighting against his hold the entire time. Keith followed behind them and watched him pull the still struggling girl into Admiral Sanda's office. It didn't take long before Iverson was walking out, Katie crying in a chair, and the Admiral on the phone. His eyes landed on Keith and narrowed, he marched over to the Cadet and towered over him, face morphing into an angry glare.

"Miss Holt's offer of admission into the Galaxy Garrison has been withdrawn due to her breach of security. We know she didn't do it alone. Consider yourself a person of interest Kogane; family tradition I see."

Looking back on it, punching a superior officer in the eye with strength a Human teenager shouldn't have been capable of, was probably not the best idea. But that was exactly the course of action Keith took. He pulled his hand away from Iverson's face, an inhuman snarl nearly escaping his throat in the process. The Commander stared wide eyed (singular) at him and immediately clutched his rapidly swelling left eye. The man took a tentative step back, and Keith felt himself coil, ready to pounce. The door to Sanda's office opened and a swift gasp from Katie pulled him back to reality and out of attack mode. He took a deep breath and relaxed just in time for two Officers to come up from behind and throw him to the ground, securing cuffs around his wrists.

* * *

Keith sat in the cabin on the couch as his dad paced the room. "Stupid! How could you be so stupid, boy?"

"I'm sorry! I just – I don't know what came over me, he made me so _mad _and I just saw red."

"Yer damn lucky you hit Iverson as hard as you did cause he's been spoutin' shit 'bout yer eyes turnin' yellow. They're chalkin' it up to head trauma from the punch but yer lucky lil' miss Holt didn't see it." Keith was pretty sure she did. He looked down at his phone and saw the messages from Katie, almost 30 of them in the span of 3 hours. He groaned and sank lower into the couch, his bag falling to the floor. This was really bad. "Right well, not much we can do 'bout it now. Get yer butt cleaned up and unpack cause yer officially grounded. This ain't gunna be a picnic where you sit here all day. Yer comin' to the fire hall with me and our Captain's gunna put you to work." He groaned again but did as he was told.

The fire hall was pretty busy and the other firefighters were excited to meet him. He got quite the welcome when he showed up with his dad. Most of the men had kids that attended the Garrison, kids who definitely knew who Keith was and definitely talked about the incident. Apparently there were rumours flying around the Garrison that Keith had attacked Iverson, that Iverson had attacked Keith, that Keith and Katie were dating and he had tried to protect her, and even one that said Keith had gone mad with grief over the loss of Shiro and had a psychotic break. He'd rolled his eyes and confirmed that no: he wasn't dating Katie Holt, no: didn't need to see a shrink, and no: the Garrison command hadn't attacked a Cadet.

His dad had explained that he was 'in deep shit' and the Captain made him mop floors, scrub toilets, and serve lunch to the fire fighters. It sucked but wasn't that the point of a punishment? He did it though, he grit his teeth and did as he was told – but he hated every second of it. After his father's shift was over they headed to the Holt's instead of home.

Colleen greeted them at the door and, as usual, Bae Bae growled at him until Katie yelled at her to shut up. Colleen prepared dinner and Keith followed his friend upstairs to her room, sitting cross-legged on her bed as she closed the door and took a seat in her desk chair. She was being uncharacteristically quiet, staring him down from behind Matt's old glasses, and it made him nervous.

"You uh – you cut your hair. I like it."

"What was with your eyes?" _Ok, so straight to business then_. He stared at her a moment, trying to think of what to say. "Keith, I swear to god if you lie to me I'll know. Tell me the truth, I know what I saw and I know Iverson saw it too. Why did your eyes change?"

"Why did you say you didn't see anything?"

"Cause I'm not stupid. Now answer my question." He sighed and took a deep breath, closing his eyes tightly to collect himself. When his eyes opened, the sclera was a bright yellow and the pupils were slit, he heard her gasp slightly and scoot her chair closer. "How?"

"I'm not Human. Well, not fully at least."

She snorted. "I always knew you were an alien ... you are an alien right?" He nodded. "Ok that makes a lot of sense. So wait, if you're an alien – does Mr. Kogane know?" It was Keith's turn to snort.

"I'd hope so since he is actually my dad. Plus my mom looks substantially less Human than I do." They both laughed, it was slightly awkward but he had to admit, the truth felt good and he knew he could trust her. After a while he collected himself again. "Your dad knew. He helped fake my medical records to get me into the Garrison when I came back."

"Came back?" He nodded. "OMG - he knew when he bought those damn shirts didn't he?" Keith nodded again, this time with a slight smile and she groaned. "We aren't done talking about this, I have more questions than you can imagine and I demand blood – I want to run some samples. But first, we need to talk about what I was able to get from 'Operation Filthy Liars'. I didn't get to finish the download before Iverson busted me, but I've been sifting through what I _did_ manage to get." She turned back to face her computer and he rubbed his arm knowing full well she meant every word about taking his blood. A program opened on the screen with an audio file. Like the previous footage she'd attainted, this seemed to be surveillance recordings. The ship was designed to automatically record its surroundings, and the crew's suits were designed to automatically record their verbal interactions. She opened the file. "I've recovered the last transmission from the crew of Kerberos. You should hear it."

There was a mechanical sound, followed by Sam's voice, then Matt's, and finally Shiro's. They were talking about ice samples and microscopic life when a rumbling came over the recordings. He heard Sam's voice again, followed by Shiro yelling at them to run, and then a loud humming and a whole lot of screaming took over. Keith's stomach dropped and he knew his face must have gone pale, he desperately hoped his gut was wrong. It wasn't.

A new voice came over the recording, this time in a different language and it sounded rougher than the three Human ones had. He recognized the language instantly; it was his native tongue after all.

{ "Emperor Zarkon, we were scouting System X-9-Y as ordered when we found these primitive scientists. I don't think they know anything useful." } And then the voice changed again. This time it was a voice he knew well, he'd heard the Emperor speak before; having listened to some of the transmissions the Blades had intercepted. A shiver went up his spine as Zarkon spoke.

{ "Take them back to the main fleet for interrogation. The druids will find out what they know." } His blood ran cold. The druids! Shiro, Matt, and Sam had been taken to the druids. A familiar Human voice sounded and Keith listened to Shiro plead with someone who could not be reasoned with. There was loud crack to the back of his head, some metal clanging, and then static.

"That's where it cuts off. I think the ship flew out of range or something." Katie spun her chair around and saw the expression on his face. "Holy shit, Keith you ok?"

He shook his head. "That was Emperor Zarkon. Katie, this is not good."

* * *

They'd spent the entire night talking, he came clean to Katie and Colleen about everything, telling them exactly what he knew as fact – the Kerberos crew were alive, they were prisoners of Zarkon, they would either be sent to work camps or sent to the gladiator pit; either way they were in for a rough ride. Colleen cried.

"Krolia told me the Empire was evil but – this is beyond words." Keith nodded. He didn't really know what to say but he knew he had to say something.

"I'll do what I can to help them; I'll contact my Leader and see if there's anything our organization can do. In the meantime, we really need to keep an eye on what the Garrison knows but I've been expelled and Katie isn't allowed into the program anymore."

"I'm not going in as Katie." He turned to look at her and she smiled wickedly at him. "I managed to leave myself a back door into the systems. I've hacked in and 'Pidge Gunderson' will be replacing Katie Holt as a new Engineering Cadet."

"You don't think anyone will notice?" He asked, smirking at the name choice.

"No. Katie Holt is female, but Pidge Gunderson is male. _He_ is entering it to the Engineering department as the next in line candidate now that a spot has opened up. I'll make sure to do well enough to not be on any watch lists, while not excelling and drawing attention."

Keith snorted, "I like that you have to _try_ not to excel."

* * *

The weeks went by and 'Pidge' hadn't been discovered. The fact that Iverson's vision had been permanently impaired probably helped. The pilot at the top of Cargo Class was bumped up to Fighter Class when he was expelled, which meant that with the loss of Keith Kogane, Lance McClain had been bumped up as his replacement. Cadet Iris had not handled it well and was booted from the program for getting into constant fights with his crew, especially Lance. Since he was the bottom of his class for communications engineering, he was replaced by a wait listed Cadet. Therefore, with the loss of Trevor Iris, Pidge Gunderson had been added to their squad.

Everything was slotting into place and Katie would message Keith at night to discuss what she had uncovered. She'd share stories of her crew and he realized how much he missed Hunk and even BlueEyes. Nadia and Ina had messaged him a few times to get together, but he was barred from stepping foot on Garrison grounds, so they could only meet on weekends in town. He started to feel secluded, cut off from everyone else. He'd messaged Regris and Marra to catch up and it had been nice to hear from them, he'd messaged Plak too and told his former instructor about the Earth records he broke. But most importantly, he'd messaged Kolivan.

The leader of the Blade of Marmora had been hesitant to help. He'd informed Keith that the oldest Human was sent to a work camp, but the two younger Humans were sent to the pit on Central Command. The Blades were stretched too thin to spare a team for a rescue mission, let alone sending one to quiznaking Central Command of all places. But Keith knew Ulaz was stationed there and he had a few favours he could call in. He'd promised Katie and Colleen he would do all he could and dammit he was going to try.


	9. Prisoners

****AUTHOR'S NOTE:  
****We have some POV changes here. In the Shiro section 98% of the dialogue is taken directly from Canon with a few little additions to tweak it for this retelling. There's only one chapter left to go after this before the next piece! Are you excited? I'm excited!

* * *

**PRISONERS**

Matt lay on the cold floor of his cell. It was dark, quiet, and _cold; _so cold. The unforgiving metal of the ship caused shivers to run up his body. As a prisoner he'd been stripped of his suit and put into rags, he'd also been given a small blanket but it was almost as thin as the cut off shirt he was wearing and did nothing to ward off the imposing chill. He curled in on himself, trying to conserve as much body heat as possible the crushing weight of loneliness and fear making the small cell feel even more oppressive. His dad was gone, taken by these _Galra_ to some work camp. Shiro was stuck in that awful gladiator pit fighting for his life. And Matt? He was lying in a cold dark cell, sulking about how much he missed his mom and his sister, but mostly how much he missed Bae Bae. She was a good dog. The _best_ dog! If Matt ever made it home he was going to snuggle the shit out of that dog.

_If he ever made it home._

Ugh what an awful thought. He tried to shake it but after months of being here, pretending his leg was still hurt and he couldn't fight, it was starting to feel like he'd never leave. He'd seen some of the looks the guards gave him. They were watching closely and if he didn't get better soon they might kill him. But if he did get better, they'd likely throw him in the pit with Shiro. Matt was a scientist, an Engineer, and a techie – the gladiator pit was not somewhere he could survive.

The thing about these Galra was, even though they were clearly aliens, no doubt about that –there was just something familiar about them. The fluidity of their movements, the manner in which they held themselves, their facial expressions, and the way they talked was all so _familiar_. He couldn't place it; there was no reason for it to feel like this because he knew he would remember if he'd ever met a 7-foot tall purple alien before. That wasn't exactly something one just forgets.

There was a loud commotion in the hall, probably more prisoners trying to fight off the guards and make a run for it. They did that sometimes. It was foolish; there was nowhere to run. They were trapped on an alien spaceship – a _hostile_ alien spaceship. Even if they did manage to evade capture, they would be stuck on the lamb inside said ship! It was why Matt hadn't tried to make a run for it himself. Where would go? This wasn't Earth; he couldn't just run into the woods and 'live off the land' until finding safety.

He heard some of the cell doors open, and voices speaking in some strange alien language. He'd heard a lot of alien languages at this point, but this one in particular he'd heard often enough to recognize. It was also the language the guards used when they spoke to the prisoners, but not the language they used when they spoke amongst themselves. He'd deduced that it must be a universal common language and since Earth was un-contacted, he didn't know how to speak it.

The door of his cell opened and instead of a Galra guard, there was a strange alien standing in the frame. It was a greenish colour with a tan face and large pink … ears? Feathery-things? Ear flappies? Whatever they were – they were pink. The alien was wearing a brown hooded cloak over baggy green pants and an orange tunic. It tilted its head and stared at him, almost seeming to recognize him; but that was impossible, humans had never been this far in space before. Suddenly, it spoke.

"Matt Holt?" Ok so _It_ was female … maybe. She had a soft, kind voice and she had used it to say his name. HIS name. How the hell did this alien lady have his name? Matt shrugged and decided to roll with it; his situation literally couldn't get any worse – or weirder.

"Ya." He said nodding. She spoke to him in the language he was going to call SpaceTalk and he just stared blankly at her, not understanding a word. She made a strange sound that must have been one of frustration then passed him a mask. It was similar to the one in her hand and he put it on as she did. The alien tapped a button on the side of her mask, indicating that he should do the same and, once again, he followed suit.

"Hello Matt Holt. I am Te-Osh. A friend has sent me to retrieve you." A friend? Matt had friends in space? Sweet. "We do not have time for explanations. We must leave, immediately."

"Wait!" He called after her. "What about Shiro? I can't leave without him. I _won't_ leave without him."

"There is one other Human on this ship. They are being released by a Blade of Marmora operative. We must leave and trust that they are successful in their venture." Matt nodded; if Shiro was being taken care of, there was no reason for him to hesitate. He ran after her down the halls without a second thought.

They made it to a small docking bay where a team of misfit aliens wearing the same mask as them was waiting. Their ship was small and boxy, nowhere near as slick as the Empire ships but Matt didn't care, he followed Te-Osh and sat down in the ship as the others filed in behind them. Within seconds they were flying away from the Galra cruiser and with each passing minute he felt a weight lift from his chest. He was free. He was actually free.

They arrived at what appeared to be a deserted Empire base complete with skeletons of long dead Galra soldiers strewn about at the entrance. He winced but the aliens walked past them without much concern, so Matt followed. The inside of the abandoned base was just as dilapidated as the outside. He walked as carefully as he could through the dark winding hallways and nearly tripped several times over various pieces of debris that littered the floor. At the end of the hall was a large, heavy door that seemed to be jammed shut. With no power to the base, there was no way to open it.

It appeared he had been very wrong. How silly of him to underestimate the actual aliens who raided the spaceship of other, considerably meaner aliens in an effort to steal what to them was just another alien. Matt's head was starting to hurt. As they walked through the heavy door he saw a literal light at the end of the tunnel. These people had built an entire community within the remains of this base, using its abandoned appearance, and existing signals, to hide their presence. Absolutely brilliant.

"Matt Holt. Follow please." He nodded and followed Te-Osh down a series of halls to another room, one that was much more private. The door scanner had the severed hand of a deactivated sentry unceremoniously taped to it. Te-Osh tapped two wires together inside the robotic limb and the panel beeped, opening the door to grant access. Inside the room was dark but as they entered the lights flickered to life. Like everything built by the Galra, there was a purple hue too it. He was fascinated by their rudimentary work around for the problem genetically encoded tech could have caused. Immediately his brain started thinking of more elegant solutions, perhaps he could create a scanner for each person that allowed them to access their rooms without the risk of electrocution. He'd ponder that later.

There was a bed in here, and a bathroom attached that linked to another room on the other side. Clearly the rooms in this section of the abandoned base had belonged to the now long dead crew. They were substantially nicer than the crappy cell he'd been placed in for the past few months and he desperately wanted to sleep in an actual bed again. "These are your quarters. When you are ready, we will contact our mutual friend to verify the success of your retrieval."

"I'm ready now." She eyed him suspiciously but nodded.

"Very well. Sit." He sat. Te-Osh pulled out a communicator of some sort and typed a series of symbols in some alien language. The screen flickered to life depicting the inside of a bedroom on yet another military base. The walls were a metallic grey and had a large orange band that wrapped around the entirety of the room approximately a foot from the ceiling. Matt squinted and moved closer to the communicator's screen.

"THAT'S THE GARRISON!" His sudden outburst caught Te-Osh by surprise and she made a strange chirping sound in distress. But that's not what got Matt's attention; no, what had his attention was the messy head of short sandy blonde hair with large round glasses that popped and into frame.

"_Matt?_"

"Pidge?"

"_OH MY GOD!_" they said in unison before freezing and bursting into laughter. He had no idea why he was laughing, the flood of emotions that threatened to sweep him away had also made his brain short circuit and laughter was the side effect.

"_MATT! I'm so glad you're all right. Is dad with you? What about Shiro?_" Katie was speaking in super speed, her excitement taking over her self-control. Sadly, Matt shook his head.

"Dad was relocated to a work camp; I don't know where he is. But Shiro was being rescued by another group." That was when he noticed the other person in the room. A dark figure stood in the corner, unmoving. It was wearing what appeared to be armour of some sort, but not like any armour he'd ever seen, and it had a mask covering its face. The armour was black and sleek with purple lights on the breastplate and in the mask. The figure moved closer to the screen and lowered their hood; deactivating the mask he now realized was utilizing some insanely cool holographic technology. The now exposed face scowled at him and it took Matt longer than he'd ever admit to realize the mystery figure was Keith.

Keith looked from Matt to Te-Osh and back. Scanning the room they were in before speaking in the same strange SpaceTalk he'd heard the other aliens speaking. Katie gave him a weird look, not able to understand, but Matt had the translator mask and he promptly put back on.

"_\- was successful?"_ Te-Osh nodded and Keith continued. "_Much gratitude! Matt, Shiro, and Sam are personal friends. I have already received confirmation from our operative that Shiro's evacuation was successful, he is on his way back to Terra. Will you continue to look for Sam?"_

"I will young Blade, but it will be difficult. Without a means to track him through the Empire's systems my team will have no solid starting point."

"_Hmm, maybe I can have one of our communication operatives reach out to you. My mission on Terra will be ending shortly, Kolivan has called for me to return to our main base out of fear for my safety now that the Empire has shown themselves to be present in this sector."_ Te-Osh nodded as she listened to Keith speak - KEITH, speaking in an _alien_ language. "_Thank you again for your help."_

"I promised you I would." Keith grunted – he _grunted_ at her and nodded.

"_I have to go. Explain everything to Matt and contact me if he requires an escort back to Terra."_

"I'm not leaving!" He interjected, catching Keith by surprise. The boy eyed-up his mask and nodded, drawing the appropriate conclusion. "Keith, I'm not leaving until I find my father."

"_Understandable. Be good to Te-Osh. I cashed in a favour to get your ass out of that cell. But that's about all I can do."_ Matt nodded and Keith cut the line. Just like that! No good-bye, no 'hey man sorry for not having told you I'm a _fucking alien_', nothing!

They sat in silence for a while, neither one knowing what to say. Finally it was Matt that spoke first. "I, uh – I guess I'm staying here, with you guys if that's cool."

"What skills do you possess that may be of use to us?"

"I'm an Engineer back on Earth, a communications expert."

"A desirable skill indeed. My team will train you if you're willing to fight?"

"You bet your ass I am."

* * *

He blinked up at the lights, they were far too bright and his eyes had a hard time adjusting. The bed he was laying on was hard and – oh, it wasn't a bed; he was on a medical table again. His mechanical arm twitched at the realization and a sharp pain shot across his shoulder where the mangled stump connected to the prosthetic. Panic started to set in and he turned his head to the side to scan the room. Without the overhead light shining in his eyes Shiro was able to get a decent grasp of his surroundings. There was a large canister of glowing yellow-gold liquid off to the side and, aside from him the room was empty. He felt the panic ebb and be replaced by an intense and over powering wave of exhaustion. Slowly, he'd succumb to the darkness.

He woke to a sharp pain in his flesh arm. The shock of which caused him to pull against his restraints. There were three Galra in the room, two low ranking foot soldiers, and a much higher ranked Officer. He couldn't let this happen, they were going to keep experimenting on him until there was nothing left. "No, NO! You took my hand, what more do you want?"

In response one of the soldiers jabbed him with another shot of sedative but it was the Officer who spoke, swatting away the needle. "Stop! I want him awake enough to feel this." The soldier did as their sadistic boss commanded, and Shiro could feel his heart rate begin to spike. The Officer instantly turned on them, attacking with the same ferocity he'd come to associate with the Galra.

"Listen to me, we don't have much time." He spoke quickly, urgently, as he downloaded something into Shiro's arm. The sedative started to kick in and he could feel himself fading until a sharp slap across the face pulled him back to reality. "Wake Up! Zarkon has located the Blue Lion of Voltron on your planet, Earth. You _must_ get it before he does."

The Galra was typing something on the side of the operating table and suddenly his shackles were released. "What are you doing?" He asked in confusion, it almost appeared as though this _Galra_ was helping him.

"I've planted a bomb to cover your escape. Get to a pod, now."

"Who are you?"

"I am Ulaz. Now, come on! Zarkon will know I released you so must disappear. But, if you survive, go to the coordinates in your arm. The Blade of Marmora is with you."

"Why are you helping me?"

"A mutual friend has contacted me, as a fighter and a leader you give hope. Hurry! Earth needs you … We all do."

Shiro sat there, crouching in a corner as he watched the strange Galra run down the hall. He fought against the effects of the sedative, struggling to keep his grasp on the slowly fading consciousness. Sentries passed by, but luckily no guards, and he pressed on. There were a few close calls, one in particular when he'd knocked over a stack of canisters alerting the sentries to his presence.

He ran. He ran as fast as his stiff and aching muscles would go, making it to the escape pods just in time to flip one of the sentries over his shoulder. The other grabbed him in a tight hold, and the well-timed explosion of Ulaz's bomb threw them apart. He was flung violently into the pod, smashing his head against the side in the process and the closing door severed the sentry, effectively disabling it. The darkness encroached on him again and he passed out as the pod launched.

He woke to find himself drifting aimlessly through empty space. He could feel the shift to consciousness was temporary, and took advantage of it while he could. Placing his prosthetic hand on the control panel for the pod Shiro watched as the vessel downloaded a series of coordinates, locking onto the first set provided. A holographic image of Earth displayed and he tapped it, again using his replacement arm. The cockpit blinked bright purple and the pod rocketed forward at an alarming speed, slightly adjusting its trajectory in the process. Once again, the darkness took him.

The crash had been hard enough to jolt him back to alertness to find the doors of his pod being pried open by figures in white, grey, and orange suits. He was being dragged out and strapped down onto yet another medical table but this time he could understand what was being said perfectly, no need for the strange translator tech coded into his arm. This was the Garrison; this was _Earth._ Shiro had just started to calm down when he saw the glint of a needle and the panic took over again.

"Hey! What are you doing?"

"Calm down Shiro. We just need to keep you quarantined until we run some tests." One of the Garrison medics had responded but they didn't stop their advancements and he struggled against his restraints. This all felt far too familiar for comfort.

"You have to listen to me! They destroy worlds! Aliens are coming!"

"Do you know how long you've been gone?" That was – that was Iverson. Shiro calmed slightly at his voice and turned to look at the man. It was hard to identify him through the HAZMAT suit.

"I don't know. Months? Years? Look, there's no time. Aliens are coming here for a weapon. They're probably on their way. They'll destroy us. We have to find Voltron." They weren't listening! The scientists were still pulling samples, examining him, but no one was actually _listening_ to him.

"Sir, take a look at this. It appears his arm has been replaced with a cyborg prosthetic." Instinctively, Shiro flexed his new arm, clasping his hand into a tight fist at the reminder of its presence.

"Put him under until we know what that thing can do."

"No, NO NO! Don't put me under! NO! There's no time!" A medic came closer, the needle back in their hand. "NO! Please, PLEASE! Iverson - Commander! Please don't do this … don't … don't – do … this"

The next time he woke, it was to a familiar set of kind purple eyes, and an emergency medical tent full of unconscious scientists.


	10. Paladins

**AUTHOR'S NOTE:  
**Once again there is a good chunk of the dialogue taken directly from Canon with a few additions, exclusions, and modifications to tweak it for this retelling.

* * *

**PALADINS**

A bright purple light streaked across the sky and Keith exchanged a knowing look with his dad. "Go, take the hover bike." Keith grinned excitedly and took off as fast as the modified bike would go. When he arrived at the 'popup' containment tents, he shot off a quick text to Katie.

{ At tent - you in position? }

{ Ya - lemme know what U C }

{ Shit tonne of Garrison folks }

{ U been in Texas all of 2 yrs and ur already sounding like ur dad }  
{ snort – 'folks' }  
{ loser }

{ shut up Katie – just focus on getting the feeds }

{ don't tell me what 2 do! }

{ then do it! Stars! }  
{ hurry up! }  
{ NOW Katie - please }

{ ok – do u wanna go in blind? Cause fuck u I'll send ur ass in blind! }

{ sorry }

{ damn right }  
{ I'm in }  
{ looks like 3 folks inside}

{ thnx } He chose to be the bigger person and not comment on her mocking use of 'folks', instead he set the timer on the explosives and waited. There was a 2 dobash delay and he used that time to do some quick reconnaissance work. Taking a scan of Shiro's pod and disabling the command system and the tracking. If he couldn't take the pod with him, at least he could prevent the Empire from tracking its whereabouts.

4 large blasts went off and he charged, rushing into the complex and taking out the 3 scientists easily. Shiro blinked into consciousness for a tic or two before promptly passing back out, causing Keith to curse the Ancients for making this rescue substantially more difficult. Using his blade, he cut the straps holding the man down and carried him for the exit.

"Oh nonono – no you don't, **I'M** saving Shiro."

"Lance, this isn't a good time! Get out of the way." He didn't move, instead BlueEyes came and picked up Shiro's other arm, wrapping it around his neck, much like Keith was, and helped him carry the man out. He could have done it himself, he didn't need Lance's help, and he would _never_ admit that it was slightly faster not having to drag the man – but dammit what was Lance even doing out here?

They walked out of the tent to find Katie and Hunk standing outside the entry looking around nervously. She frantically sputtered about the Garrison staff making their way back from the explosion site but Keith wasn't listening, he was too busy trying to heave Shiro's limp form onto the hover bike. He had planned to take himself, Shiro, and Katie on the bike and the two new additions complicated his escape route substantially. He couldn't rely on speed anymore, they were far too heavy for that, instead he'd need to rely on his super piloting and reflexes.

"Is this thing gunna be big enough for all of us?" Katie asked, knowing full well it would have been if she had done her job correctly and sneaked out _without being caught!_

"No." He responded through clenched teeth and hit the throttle. Shooting the hover bike as fast as it could go given the circumstances.

"Can't this thing go any faster?" Lance complained from directly behind him as if he wasn't part of the problem. The pissed off Garrison staff were gaining on them.

"We could toss off some non essential weight." He smirked to himself and Lance immediately agreed before catching on.

"Ok, so that was an insult. I get it -" Keith cut him off, yelling at Hunk to shift his weight to narrowly avoid being caught. He hollered to shift weight again, and they landed on a thin over hang. The Garrison jeeps followed, making the jump successfully and staying close to his tail. If they wanted to push him then he would push back, show them _exactly_ why their stupid Earth tech wasn't good enough for him. There was a reason the Galra were known for their flight prowess. No one could fly like them, and Keith had been trained by the best. His face fell into a sly grin, the joy of a dangerous ride, the rush of adrenaline kicking in and coursing through his veins, pushing him to the limit and forcing him to excel. This was his element.

He hit the throttle, a cliff was coming up and there was no way those jeeps could follow; they'd need to turn back and go all the way around the outcropping. A detour that would take them over a varga and by then, Keith would be long gone.

"GUYS! Is – is that a cliff up ahead?" Hunk stammered

"OH nonono!" Lance screamed beside the big guy, Katie joining in on the objections.

Keith grinned "Yup!" and cranked the bike to its maximum output as they flew straight over the edge.

"What are you doing? You're going to kill us all!" Lance panicked and Keith partly wished he were the one unconscious instead of Shiro.

"Shut up and trust me!" Adjusting his grip and abruptly shifting the gear, he reversed the engines and pumped full power. The moment they met resistance, he flipped the engines back and rocketed off towards the cabin. The screaming never stopped.

* * *

Keith watched Shiro sleep. He'd laid the man down on the couch of his father's cabin. Lance, Hunk, and Katie were standing out on the front porch arguing about how to proceed. Katie was saying Keith should be in charge, Lance was arguing vehemently about his lack of cooperative skills, and Hunk was muttering about aliens being real. It was enough to make him snicker slightly while he watched the painful expressions flutter across Shiro's face. Whatever he was reliving in his sleep, it wasn't pleasant.

Keith had an idea, a rough idea, of what it was like in the pit. He'd seen footage various Blades had brought back with them and it was brutal. A part of him shuddered at the excitement he had once felt watching the matches. He knew they were horrible but it was so damn captivating to watch. Regris and himself had sat down with some of the archival footage and marathon-ed them for vargas, replaying some of the more incredible moves on the training deck during their next sparring sessions. But now that it was Shiro who had been one of the fighters, forced to fight for his very survival - it made Keith realize just how sadistic the whole thing really was.

Shiro was a pacifist, someone who avoided confrontation as much as possible. In the Gladiator pit he had been forced to fight, to kill, to take the lives of the innocent in order to save his own. Based on the cybernetic arm, he ventured a guess that the druid's had decided to 'reward' his successes. Keith huffed to himself; Shiro probably _hated _that thing. He studied it closer, examining the prosthetic as best he could without disturbing the sleeping man. It was connected to his very quintessence and highly advanced. But if it used quintessence, then it would be susceptible to quintessence manipulation … right? Taking a deep breath Keith held the arm in his hands and focused his energy on it.

There were multiple weapon capabilities and even some useful non-weaponized programs such as a universal translator that was more advanced than the one he had in his Blade suit. From what he could feel, there didn't seem to be any 'other'-ness to the appendage. It ran off Shiro's own quintessence but it wasn't warping said quintessence like some of the other creations from Zarkon's witch. Either his body rejected the treatment or Keith had managed to get him out before they tried it. He suspected it was the later. If Shiro's body rejected the procedure, they would have deemed him a failure and removed the arm just to send him back into the pit without it. He shuddered at the thought.

The minutes stretched and eventually his dad came in from out back, staring momentarily at the teenagers on his front steps before shrugging and walking inside.

"Hey kiddo, whats goin' on? Why're all yer friends just -" He froze in the door, staring at the couch and the still sleeping figure laying on it. "- Is, is that Shirogane?" Keith nodded and his father's whole face lit up. "SAM? Sammy, you here?" It broke his heart to tell him the truth.

"So, Matt's alright – he's safe?" Keith nodded. "And Sammy is in some work camp somewhere?" Keith nodded. "And Matt's gunna join these rebel friends of yers to help look for him?" Keith nodded. His dad had taken the news fairly well, understanding the situation and accepting it, though he did have that far off look in his eyes again. "Yer goin back now aren't you?"

"Ya, I kinda have no choice. With the Empire's presence in the area, Kolivan thinks it's safer if I head back to base."

"Woah woah woah. Who's Kolivan? What base? What Empire? WHAT'S GOING ON?" Keith rolled his eyes but couldn't really blame Lance for being confused. He'd only shared the bare minimum with Katie and she looked like she clearly wanted more answers too.

"Ok fine, sit."

* * *

His dad was talking to Shiro, Lance and Hunk were exchanging stories that proved he had been an alien this whole time, Katie was working away on her laptop, and Keith was packing his bag. Grabbing his Blade of Marmora suit and shoving it in, he opted to continue in the Earth clothing he was currently wearing. He pulled his blade from the back of his belt and stared at the wrappings around the hilt. When Keith first entered the Garrison he'd wrapped the handle in a tightly wound fabric, being sure to fully cover the slightly glowing sigil. Now that he looked at it in his hands, feeling the slight pulse of his own quintessence flowing through the blade, he desperately wanted to remove them. Instead, he returned the wrapped knife to the small of his back and secured it in place.

A knock on the door pulled him mentally back to the cabin and he grunted, accepting the entry request. "Uh, hey man do you uh, you know – do you wanna have some lunch or something before we go hiking or whatever?" he smiled at Hunk and nodded.

"Yeah, lunch sound great buddy. Ask my dad; I'm sure he's got something we can heat up." Hunk nodded excessively and headed out of the small room, hesitating slightly at the door.

"So uh, your like – an _actual_ alien? You just look so Human man."

"Hunk, I literally just explained all of this to you guys."

"Yeah Yeah I know but it's just like – I understand why you aren't changing your look and all, but uh – I kinda wanna know what you really look like."

"Yeah, me too!" Lance poked his head in over Hunk's large shoulder and Keith couldn't hold back the eye roll.

"This _is_ what I really look like aside from the eyes and I already showed you that."

"Yeah but like only for a split second, come on dude go full alien on us!" Lance continued enthusiastically. Keith indulged him because he was weak and a little annoyed. Shifting his eyes back to yellow sclera and narrow slits, he let out a strong hiss that echoed off the walls of the tiny wooden bedroom. Hunk paled and cowered, Lance shrieked and jumped back nearly tripping over the much larger boy in the process. But it was the audible gasp that came from the couch that caught his attention.

Immediately setting his eyes back to Human, he deftly leapt over the heads of both teen boys, landing in a smooth roll on the other side. "Shiro – you're back!" The man nodded and eyed him wearily before seeming to deflate. He reached out, pulling Keith into a tight hug that both excited and confused the young Blade.

"Your dad explained everything to me. And I guess you being an alien puts a lot into perspective doesn't it." He gave a playful smile but Keith could see he was still processing the insane events of the last 24 hours.

The group sat on various surfaces in the cabin, eating baked beans Kolt had made, and not a soul said a word. Finally Keith caved, unable to handle the uncomfortable glances and random throat clearings any longer. "Ok, enough. I know you all have questions, but we really need to find Blue and her Paladin so I can get the quiznak off this planet."

"Keith's right. The Galra are coming -" Keith winced. He and his dad may have told everyone he was an alien, but they left out the part about him being Galra, not even Katie knew that. The combination of fear and hate that Shiro used when he spoke of Keith's people was enough to make his stomach turn. "- and they will destroy everything in their path until they find Voltron. We have to stop them, we can't let those monsters get their hands on whatever this Voltron is."

"It' a robot." All eyes turned back to him now and he swore Katie was vibrating in her seat. "5 semi-sentient robotic lions that come together to form the mighty warrior known as Voltron. I grew up listening to the legends." He shrugged the last line like it was no big deal, but honestly he just wanted their attention off him.

Shiro's eyebrow was quirked up, looking slightly skeptical but he too shrugged and nodded. "OK so we need to find this robot and find a way to transport it from Earth." Keith chuckled.

"No, just the one piece. The Blue Lion I'm looking for is one of the Voltron Lions. They are ships, powerful ship that were scattered across the cosmos and only Blue is on Earth."

"o-kay … then we need to find this – Blue. Any idea where to start?" Shiro continued, his tone more skeptical than before.

"Ya'll don't need to go Lion huntin' I know where Ol' Blue is. It's her damn paladin ya'll need to be findin'."

"My dad's right. Only the chosen Paladin can fly a Lion of Voltron."

"Well where's this Paladin?" Katie interjected. "You've been on Earth for almost 2 years now with that single goal and you still haven't located them?" He scowled at her; she was not helping.

"No _Pidge_ I haven't. But I can feel that they're close."

"Well, I vote we find this awesome Blue robot lion and see if we can't just ask it for help finding the Paladan."

"It's Palad_in,_ Lance." Keith corrected and both he and Lance rolled their eyes in unison.

"Ugh, whatever." The Cuban muttered as Hunk patted his back in understanding.

"Ok, so we have a plan." Shiro stood, the highest ranked amongst them, taking on the roll of leader like he was born to it. "We'll clean up and go out to wherever this Blue Lion is and see if we can't speed up the search. Come on team, let's roll out."

* * *

Katie packed up her tech equipment and carried it with her for maybe 15 minutes before complaining about the heat and her exhaustion. Shiro and Hunk were also having a hard time with the dry heat of the Texas desert, but Lance seemed fine and Keith was far ahead of the pack. He'd lived out here when he was little and he'd had time to adapt since being expelled from the Garrison.

Being the compassionate souls that they are, Shiro offered to carry Katie's bag and Kolt later offered to carry Katie. She'd accepted both offers. When Keith made it to the top of the outcropping and turned around to see Lance practically dragging Hunk up the rocks, Shiro climbing while wearing an incredibly tiny grey and orange backpack, and his dad piggybacking Katie – he'd nearly fallen over from laughter.

Shiro, Kolt, and Keith moved the boulders blocking the Lion's cave, and the other three filed in. He knew the instant they saw the lion – the gasps and looks of pure awe on their faces reminded him of his own reaction to seeing Blue again.

The bright blue particle barrier illuminated the entire cave and he ran up to it, placing his hands against the resistance. It was a strange feeling; wet and cool, like a fresh mountain spring, but when he pulled his hands away they were perfectly dry. _Weird._

"Does anyone else get the feeling this thing is staring at them?" Lance questioned rather loudly and Keith heard Shiro respond with a deadpan '_No_' that made him smirk. "Yeah. The eyes are totally following me." Keith rolled his own eyes and stared at Blue. He felt something strange, a shift in the energy she gave off, and turned to look at Lance. _Weird._

"How do we do this? Just like, ask?" Hunk spoke, his voice hesitant.

"Dunno son, but I don't see why not." Keith nodded at his dad, about to speak to Blue when Lance rushed up beside him.

"Maybe you just have to knock." He immediately knocked – like an absolute idiot.

Except – an idiot who turned out to be right. The particle barrier dissolved at his touch and Blue came to life. A sudden, mind splitting vision rocked through his head and he saw Voltron standing triumphantly and wielding a flaming sword of pure AWESOME! Keith stared up at the lion, dumbfounded.

"Uh, did everyone just see that?" Lance asked.

"VOLTRON IS AWESOME!" Hunk cheered. "Voltron is HUGE and Awesome!" Suddenly the Lion rose, moving for the first time in 10,000 deca-phoebs, and opened its massive jaws … directly in front of Lance. _LANCE!_

"Oh you have got to be kidding me." Keith muttered under his breath and received a swift smack to the back of the head from his dad. Katie immediately ran inside after the Cuban and Hunk hesitantly followed her.

Shiro made a move as well, but paused and looked back. "Keith, Kolt – you coming?"

"Nah, I cant be leavin' poor Colleen all alone."

"What? No! Dad, come with us! Please!" He pleaded with his father. They were here, all of them! He could easily step into the lion with them.

"I can't son, I want to – more than anything, but I just cant. I wasn't meant to go to space, just like you weren't meant to stay on Earth. I've still got that Marmora communicator ya'll can reach me on. I'll stay here and keep an eye on Colleen now that lil' Katie's gone too. If we get any trouble from the Empire, I'll be sure to message you." There were tears welling in both of their eyes and Keith lunged forward. Wrapping his arms tightly around his father and feeling the returned affection.

"I'll miss you."

"I know, kiddo. I'll miss you too."

"I'll come back! I promise!"

"I sure hope so. Bring yer mamma with you next time wont-cha. Gets lonely out here."

"Ew, dad – gross. What the quiznak!" Kolt laughed and Keith filed the sound away in his memories. He had a sinking feeling it would be a long time before he'd get to hear it again.

* * *

He ran into the Blue Lion just as the console lit up and Lance, sitting in the pilot's seat, was thrust forward into position. He heard the mouth close and watched the screens activate. In the corner of the cave Keith could barely make out the shape of his father climbing towards the exit.

"Ok you guys I feel the need to point out, just so that we're all aware – we are in some kind of futuristic alien cat head right now!" Keith rolled his eyes at Hunk and muttered '_No shit' _in Galran.

"WOAH! Did you guys just hear that?" Lance was wide eyed.

"Hear what?" he asked, hoping the Lion hadn't translated his words. Recovered Altean tech had a habit of doing that.

"I think it's talking to me!" He pressed a series of buttons on the screen and Keith had a mild panic attack. Lance had inadvertently put them into 'systems test' mode. The lion roared and burst through the solid rock walls of the cave, flying into the air with more grace than Lance was capable of. Either he had vastly improved while Keith was gone from the Garrison, or the Lion was doing most of the work.

A series of stunts, flips, and sudden direction changes had everyone flying around the cockpit and proving that Lance was in Cargo Class for a reason. "You are the worst. Pilot. Ever!" Keith called out. Pidge and Hunk screamed around him as they flew around, Lance performing a series of runs and jumps.

"Isn't this awesome!" Lance called from the pilot seat and, ok yeah, Keith could admit it _was _kinda cool but it would be substantially better if their pilot knew what the quiznak they were doing!

"Make it stop, make it stop!" Hunk looked like he was about to barf – and based on his time with the guy as one of his engineers; yeah, that was highly plausible.

"I'm not doing anything! It's like it's on autopilot!" The lion suddenly took off at a speed only the Blade's top fighter pods to match, flying straight up and heading out of Earth's atmosphere.

"Where are you going?" Keith was now starting to panic. Lance really had no idea what he was doing.

"I just said it's on autopilot! It says there's an alien ship approaching Earth. I think we're supposed to stop it."

"What did it say, exactly?" Katie accused, adjusting her glasses to glare angrily at their pilot.

"Well it's not like it's saying _words_, more like feeding ideas into my brain … kind of." Within tics they were well past Earth and an Empire cruiser flew into view from hyper-drive. Their little rag tag crew gasped and froze in fear but Keith grit his teeth. Stars how he wished he was at the helm of the Blue Lion, he knew he wasn't her paladin, but he also knew her stupid idiot choice wasn't going to be able to do anything! He thought he faintly heard a roar of objection but he shrugged it off.

"Lance – do as I say, got it?" the boy nodded and Keith carried on. "Don't let the beams hit us, don't get too close, don't stop directly in front of the cruiser, and for the love of the Ancients FIRE BACK!"

"Ok, I think I know what to do!"

"Be careful man, this isn't a simulator!" Katie yelled, death gripping the side of the chair.

"Well that's good. I always wreck the simulator." And though that line didn't exactly instil any confidence, Lance himself did an adequate job of distracting the cruiser. They flew off, baiting the Empire ship to follow and successfully leading them away from defenceless Earth.

Shiro's voice was laced with awe and concern as he stared at the screen, watching the steady approach of Pluto's moon. "There's Kerberos."

"It takes _months_ for our ships to get out this far. We got out here in like – five seconds!" Katie was finger counting – a sure fire sign she was losing her mind.

"Yeah, but your ships all suck." their eyes turned to glare at him. "Uh, no offense."

* * *

Saved by a wormhole! It was a bright blue against the darkness of space. A wormhole like this hadn't been seen since the fall of Altea, but then again – Voltron was an Altean legacy after all. The Empire cruiser was steadily gaining on them and Shiro made the executive decision to trust the lion and go for it. Keith was thrilled, nervous – but thrilled! He couldn't wait to brag to Regris about having travelled through an _actual Altean wormhole!_ THIS WAS SWEET!

This was _not_ sweet! He felt like his entire body was being jostled, right down to his DNA and the odd stretching sensation that accompanied it was incredibly uncomfortable. When they came out the other side Hunk immediately vomited and Keith felt he was one more jostle away from joining the guy. Shiro made a comment about the constellations and it pulled Keith back to reality. Looking at them he realized immediately where they were; System 3-8B-F and that planet they were headed towards was most likely Arus.

* * *

The lion touched down in front of a giant white and blue castle whose architecture was distinctly Altean and before he could process that fact, the lion roared right in his ear. He barely heard Hunk whimper about being eaten through the ringing. The whole group walked inside and Keith jostled his finger in his ear a bit to stop the annoying sound.

Standing in the dark foyer, Hunk yelled out "Hello" and it echoed off the still walls and down the (hopefully) empty halls. A bright flash immediately blinded him and Keith swore up and down that he now knew why the Galra hated the quiznaking Alteans so much. Why did everything have to be so bright and so loud!

{ "Hold for Identity scan" } The same pleasing female voice that had run his Altean language lessons spoke and a weird light wrapped around each of their bodies. Hunk, Katie, and Lance were freaking out but, as he'd suspected, Shiro's prosthetic was equipped with a translator. He tried speaking to the voice, but Keith knew that was fruitless; it was merely a security system and he chuckled slightly at the Human. He remembered the first time he had met Ina and thought she was a robot, and now the Humans got to experience his confusion in reverse; mistaking advanced AI's for actual sentience. _Primitives_. He mentally snickered.

The halls lit up, clearly directing them down a path they were meant to follow. "I – guess we're going that way." Katie called and immediately all 4 of them headed off into the belly of the long abandoned Altean base; he groaned and followed them, they might need backup.

Hunk continued to call out as they went, his voice echoing eerily around them, bouncing off the walls and disappearing into the dark. It was creepy – super creepy! He'd watched enough horror movies with Nadia to be officially freaked out now. Damn her!

The lights ended in a large round, incredibly and annoyingly bright, room. He recognized it as an Altean medbay and rushed for the console but Katie beat him to it. Two pods rose from the ground, a figure inside each and Keith braced himself for the horribly disfigured remains he was about to see as one hissed open. Instead, a beautiful young woman fell out so naturally, Lover Boy Lance was there to catch her and Keith rolled his eyes.

She had perfectly white hair and smooth tanned skin with crystal blue eyes and soft lilac pupils. Her facial markings were a soft pink and her dress was blue and white – like fucking _everything_ Altean was! Honestly, the Alteans were as obsessed with white and blue as the Galra were with Black, grey, and purple. He shouldn't actually judge her because he loved black and purple just as much as the rest of his people – but dammit he was already on this high horse and the castle had done a damn good job of giving him a splitting headache. He was very annoyed with everything Altean he had come across so far, so he judged away!

She called out 'Father' as Lance caught her and Keith noticed she spoke in high class Altean, her voice sounding incredibly posh. "Who are you? Where am I?" she asked, confused.

"I'm Lance, and you're right here in my arms." Keith rolled his eyes so hard he thought hey might have gotten stuck.

"Your – ears? They're hideous. What's wrong with them?" Keith snorted. Ok she was funny! He might like her after all. Lance grumbled, incredibly offended and Keith nearly burst out laughing.

"Nothing's wrong with them! They heard exactly what you said about them!" The tanned boy leaned in, yelling directly into her face. She grabbed his ear and wrist, spinning him around and dropping him to his knees with a speed no Human could match.

"Who are you? Where is King Alfor? What are you doing in my castle?!" Her castle? Keith gasped and realization hit him.

"Princess Allura?"

"Yes - who are you? Tell me what is going on immediately!" The other's turned to look at him and he continued to stare at her in shock.

Shiro answered for him, drawing her attention off Keith and letting him breathe. "We were brought here from our planet, Earth by a giant Blue Lion."

"How do _you_ have the Blue Lion? What happened to its paladin? What are you all doing here … unless … how long as it been?"

He looked at her with a sudden pang of regret, she didn't know. "Princess, it's been 10,000 deca-phoebs."

"What? That's not possible! You're lying!" She rushed for the console, placing her hand on it and activating the controls. Katie gawked at her, amazed by the tech far beyond what Earth was used to. The second pod opened and a middle aged man with bright orange hair a matching moustache leapt out. He shouted and lunged at Lance who easily dogged him by merely stepping aside. The two got into a strange fight, verbally describing the moves they were about to pull as if it were some sort of fantasy roll playing game. Keith snorted and imagined the whole room playing Monsters and Manna. Actually, Lance would probably be pretty good at it; he should introduce them to the game!

"It can't be. You – you were telling the truth. We've been asleep for 10,000 deca-phoebs! Planet Altea and all of the planets in our system have been destroyed. Coran, father is gone. Our entire civilization … _Zarkon!_" She said the Emperor's name with such hate, such seething anger and _hate_. Shiro gasped. "He was the king of the Galra. A vile create and an enemy to all free people."

"I – I remember now. I was his prisoner." His eyes glazed slightly before he snapped back to reality. The pain of supressed memories brushing against the surface and Keith could see that Hunk wanted to hug him.

"He's still alive? Impossible!"

"Haggar. His witch is keeping him alive with quintessence transfusions." The princess turned to look at Keith and under her intense scrutiny he regretted speaking up. "He's searching for Voltron."

"He's searching for it because he knows it's the only thing that can defeat him, and that's exactly why we must find it before he does." She walked over to her console. Pulling up a star chart and blowing the minds of the 4 Humans present. "The Black Lion was locked away inside the castle to keep it out of Zarkon's hands. It can only be freed by the presence of the other 4 lions. We already have the Blue Lion, but we'll need to acquire the others as quickly as possible." She stared at each of them, seemingly searching their very souls before smiling broadly. "You 5 were brought here for a reason, you _are_ the new Paladins of Voltron." Keith gawked at her. She wasn't serious … right? He was Galra, the Alteans _hated_ the Galra. She wasn't really going to assign him as a paladin … was she? Stars he hoped she did.

The princess went on to explain the quintessence mirroring of the paladin and their lion, the incredible bond it forged, and some rather insightful observations about each of them as individuals. They were all assigned a lion. Shiro was Black, Katie was Green, Hunk was Yellow, obviously Lance was Blue, and Keith got Red. He felt himself practically swoon over the little holographic Red Lion that floated over to him.

"Unfortunately, I can not locate the Red Lion's coordinates yet. There might be something wrong with the castle. After 10,000 deca-phoebs it might need some work." Allura chuckled, but he could see that Red's disappearance was troubling her.

"I don't think it's the castle. Last I heard Commander Sendak had managed to capture one of the Voltron Lions. Guess it must have been the red one."

"No! The Galra are in possession of one of the lions? You're sure about this?" He nodded; one of their agents had died getting that information. "Do you know how to locate it?"

"No, princess. But I could try to -" A loud blaring alarm sounded through the room, his ears ringing violently and the lights flashed rapidly between bright red and a blinding white. Keith dropped to his knees, the sensory overload causing his head to feel like it was on the verge of exploding. Shiro was at his side in an instant, placing a soothing on his shoulders. The Altean man rushed for the console, frantically pushing buttons and pulling up an image on the screen, an image that Keith couldn't see from his current position, still hunched over on the floor.

"A Galra battleship has set its tracker to us!" Coran explained as he shut off the alarm. Keith gasped, taking in his first full breath in over almost a dobash.

"How did they find us?"

"Not sure Princess, but I bet it's Keith's fault." Keith groaned, as if he wasn't suffering enough he had to be reminded of _Lance's_ presence.

"Say whatever you gotta say to make yourself feel better … after getting us stuck on the other side of a WORMHOLE!" He yelled back, fully aware that he was rising to the bait and not caring in the least. His head hurt, his eyes were burning, his ears were ringing, and his patience was fading.

"I'll stick _you_ in a wormhole."

"You already did that genius!"

"Stow it, Cadets." Ever the adult, Shiro intervened. "This is no time to place blame, it's time to work as a team." Keith huffed and rolled his eyes while Lance exaggerated threw his arms out. Couldn't the princess just fly the Blue Lion and they could ditch Lance on some random moon somewhere? "How long before they arrive?" Shiro had turned his attention away from Keith's mutinous thoughts to address Coran.

"At their speed?" The crazy Altean muttered to himself as he counted on his fingers. Ms. Proxa used to do that, though she was substantially less verbal while doing so. "I'd say – oh, a couple of quintants?"

"Good, let them come." Allura stood tall, squaring her shoulders and looking every bit the royal he knew her to be. She was magnificent, graceful and strong, smart and brave. He would absolutely follow her into battle. "By the time they get here you 5 will have reformed Votlron and together, we will destroy Zarkon's empire."

* * *

**Author's Note:**

This is part 4 of a 5 part series that follows Keith being raised by the BOM and eventually becoming the Red Paladin of Voltron. The next piece in the series is called "For The Stars" and is now published. If you have any suggestions, tips, or feedback I'd love to hear it!

\- KarsKars


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